Theoretical origin of life; a mix of molecules (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, September 18, 2019, 19:36 (1675 days ago) @ David Turell

This foolish article assume a mash-mosh of various molecules miraculously appearing on a rocky Earth devoid of life or much advanced biochemistry:

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/rna-dna-chimeras-might-have-supported-the-or...

"The work, reported by Scripps Research Institute chemist Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy and his postdoc Subhendu Bhowmik, came out of research exploring the transition from RNA-based lifeforms—commonly thought to be the first life on the planet—to the DNA-based life that is ubiquitous today. In making chimeric RNA-DNA molecules, Krishnamurthy and colleagues previously found that they have some advantages that might make them better candidates than pure RNA for the first reproducing molecules.

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"In the newly published study, Krishnamurthy and Bhowmik found that the molecules consisting of both RNA and DNA components formed weaker bonds between the strands, allowing them to easily separate for replication. Then, as new strands formed, they preferentially bonded to like structures, yielding molecules of pure RNA and pure DNA. Similarly, chimeric molecules of RNA and an artificial nucleic acid known as TNA, which researchers speculate may represent a molecule that existed before RNA, were better able to yield nucleic acids composed entirely of RNA or TNA components than when starting with RNA or TNA alone."

Comment. James Tour are you watching this? And just where did these molecules come from on a lifeless Earth? The meteorites (like Murchison) don't contain them.