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.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
