The RNA World: molecular cooperation at the origins of life

Key PointsResearch into the RNA World paradigm is active, and new discoveries in synthetic organic chemistry and biochemistry routinely provide new insights.The field of prebiotic chemistry is increasingly discovering phenomena that provide solutions to multiple (as opposed to single) problems simultaneously.A key issue in RNA World research is how RNAs might have made copies of themselves (that is, how they replicated). There are now several possible mechanisms of this process, and increasing focus is being placed on those that display autocatalytic feedback.Cooperation among various molecules was probably a key aspect of the RNA World, and at least three types of molecular cooperation could have been at play during the origins of life.Chemical alternatives to RNA per se may have existed at some point in the Earth's earliest history, and many efforts are underway to find and evaluate such structures.Network establishment was another process that had a large impact on the organization of the living state, from small molecules to large molecules and cell-like structures.