Open AccessUndefining life's biochemistry: implications for abiogenesis
Author(s) -
Stephen J. Freeland
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of the royal society interface
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.655
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1742-5689
pISSN - 1742-5662
DOI - 10.1098/rsif.2021.0814
Subject(s) - clarity , synthetic biology , natural selection , set (abstract data type) , scope (computer science) , epistemology , living systems , abiogenesis , tree of life (biology) , theme (computing) , natural (archaeology) , rna world hypothesis , biological evolution , evolutionary biology , selection (genetic algorithm) , cognitive science , biology , computational biology , computer science , philosophy , genetics , rna , psychology , ecology , artificial intelligence , phylogenetics , gene , biochemistry , ribozyme , programming language , operating system , paleontology
In the mid-twentieth century, multiple Nobel Prizes rewarded discoveries of a seemingly universal set of molecules and interactions that collectively defined the chemical basis for life. Twenty-first-century science knows that every detail of this Central Dogma of Molecular Biology can vary through either biological evolution, human engineering (synthetic biology) or both. Clearly the material, molecular basis of replicating, evolving entities can be different. There is far less clarity yet for what constitutes this set of possibilities. One approach to better understand the limits and scope of moving beyond life's central dogma comes from those who study life's origins. RNA, proteins and the genetic code that binds them each look like products of natural selection. This raises the question of what step(s) preceded these particular components? Answers here will clarify whether any discrete point in time or biochemical evolution will objectively merit the label of life's origin, or whether life unfolds seamlessly from the non-living universe.