In recent developments in chemistry and genetic engineering, the humble researcher dealing with the origin of life finds her(him)self in a grey area of tackling something that even does not yet have a clear definition agreed upon. A series of chemical steps is described to be considered as the life-nonlife transition, if one adheres to the minimalistic definition: life is self-reproduction with variations. The fully artificial RNA system chosen for the exploration corresponds sequence-wise to the reconstructed initial triplet repeats, presumably corresponding to the earliest protein-coding molecules. The demonstrated occurrence of the mismatches (variations) in otherwise complementary syntheses (" self-reproduction" ), in this RNA system, opens an experimental and conceptual perspective to explore the origin of life (and its definition), on the apparent edge of the origin. © 2011 Beijing Genomics Institute.

On the observable transition to living matter / Pino, Samanta; Edward N., Trifonov; DI MAURO, Ernesto. - In: GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS. - ISSN 1672-0229. - STAMPA. - 9:1-2(2011), pp. 7-14. [10.1016/s1672-0229(11)60002-8]

On the observable transition to living matter

PINO, SAMANTA;DI MAURO, Ernesto
2011

Abstract

In recent developments in chemistry and genetic engineering, the humble researcher dealing with the origin of life finds her(him)self in a grey area of tackling something that even does not yet have a clear definition agreed upon. A series of chemical steps is described to be considered as the life-nonlife transition, if one adheres to the minimalistic definition: life is self-reproduction with variations. The fully artificial RNA system chosen for the exploration corresponds sequence-wise to the reconstructed initial triplet repeats, presumably corresponding to the earliest protein-coding molecules. The demonstrated occurrence of the mismatches (variations) in otherwise complementary syntheses (" self-reproduction" ), in this RNA system, opens an experimental and conceptual perspective to explore the origin of life (and its definition), on the apparent edge of the origin. © 2011 Beijing Genomics Institute.
2011
definition of life; life-nonlife transition; origin of life; triplet code
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
On the observable transition to living matter / Pino, Samanta; Edward N., Trifonov; DI MAURO, Ernesto. - In: GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS. - ISSN 1672-0229. - STAMPA. - 9:1-2(2011), pp. 7-14. [10.1016/s1672-0229(11)60002-8]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/399955
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