06-07-2015, 10:03 AM
One of the big questions in biogenesis was how did chemicals combine to form information containing molecules such as RNA. These scientists think they have uncovered an intermediate step. It doesn't solve the question, but brings us one step closer to understanding how life began:
By showing that it's possible for tRNA to discriminate between molecules, and that the links can work without "help," Carter thinks he's found a way for the information storage of chemical structures like tRNA to have arisen — a crucial piece of passing on genetic traits. Combined with the work on amino acids and temperature, it offers insight into how early life might have evolved.
This work still doesn't answer the ultimate question of how life began, but it does show a mechanism for the appearance of the genetic codes that pass on inherited traits, which got evolution rolling.
http://news.yahoo.com/origin-life-story-may-found-missing-123319318.html
By showing that it's possible for tRNA to discriminate between molecules, and that the links can work without "help," Carter thinks he's found a way for the information storage of chemical structures like tRNA to have arisen — a crucial piece of passing on genetic traits. Combined with the work on amino acids and temperature, it offers insight into how early life might have evolved.
This work still doesn't answer the ultimate question of how life began, but it does show a mechanism for the appearance of the genetic codes that pass on inherited traits, which got evolution rolling.
http://news.yahoo.com/origin-life-story-may-found-missing-123319318.html
