A much-discussed theory holds that 4 billion years ago, long before the appearance dinosaurs or even bacteria, primordial matter contained the potential for life.
Then a molecule called RNA took a giant step into the future: It made a copy of himself.
The copy then created another copy, and over many millions of years, RNA gave birth to DNA and proteins, which combined to form a cell, the smallest unit of life that can survive on its own.
Now, to a very important research that supports this theory of the RNA World, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, they performed – they reproduced a small but essential part of the above story.
In test tubes, developed an RNA molecule that was able to make exact copies of a different type of RNA. The research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, brings them closer to the grand goal of developing an RNA molecule that makes exact copies of itself.
"Like it's alive," said Gerald Joyce, president of Salk and one of the authors of the new study. "Well, this is the path to how life can arise in a laboratory or anywhere in the universe..."
John Chaput, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the study, called the Salk team's crossing of that line "monumental," adding that "at first I found it a little unbelievable ... It's extremely neat."
Η Washington Post reports that “the script they tried probably mimics one of her own early developments developments". And Michael Kay, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah, says the new study has given the RNA World theory "core evidence" to prove it "is plausible and reasonable."
He added that the replicating RNA developed at Salk will "provide a valuable tool for people who want to do directed evolution experiments."
