The path to life's origins. Remaining hurdles

MAURO, Di E., R. SALADINO and Eduard Nikolajevič TRIFONOV. The path to life's origins. Remaining hurdles. JOURNAL OF BIOMOLECULAR STRUCTURE & DYNAMICS. PHILADELPHIA: TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 2014, vol. 32, No 4, p. 512-522. ISSN 0739-1102. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2013.783509.

Basic information

• Original name: The path to life's origins. Remaining hurdles
• Authors: MAURO, Di E. (380 Italy), R. SALADINO (380 Italy) and Eduard Nikolajevič TRIFONOV (376 Israel, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: JOURNAL OF BIOMOLECULAR STRUCTURE & DYNAMICS, PHILADELPHIA, TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 2014, 0739-1102.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 10600 1.6 Biological sciences
• Country of publisher: United States of America
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 2.919
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14740/14:00079591
• Organization unit: Central European Institute of Technology
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07391102.2013.783509
• UT WoS: 000329899500001
• Keywords in English: origin of life; simplissimus; RNA replicator; abiotic start; self-replication; border chemistry; life; formamide reactions
• Tags: kontrola MP, MP, rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Recent progress in abiotic syntheses, especially self-catalytic syntheses, as well as theoretical breakthroughs such as reconstruction of events of early molecular evolution and tracing repeat expansions in contemporary genomes, converge to a rather simple possible scenario of origin of life, notwithstanding the enormity of the problem. The scenario includes self-replicating RNA duplexes, supplemented by monomers and high-energy compounds that, as demonstrated or assumed, can all be synthesized abiotically. The self-replication would proceed with occasional mutational changes, propagated in later cycles. This audacious, as it may seem, walk toward the life origin already involves many laboratories, each exploring its own scenario. The one suggested in this outline seems to the authors well justified to engage in, while bypassing few steps to deal with later.