I've recently read A.G. Cairns-Smith book "Seven Clues to the Origin of Life",
which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in the subject. One of
his ideas is that the existence of polymers of nucleic and amino acids in
all living systems today is like the existence of an arch of stones that
was once constructed with a scaffolding that has long since disappeared.
He further suggests that we should seek a possible "scaffolding" for
DNA/RNA/proteins rather than remain convinced that the first evolving
entities were necessarily composed of nucleic and amino acids.
I don't know whether I buy his suggestion that the "scaffolding" was some form
of inorganic crystal, but I'm intrigued in the general idea. I'm somewhat
naive on the subject, and I'm curious if anyone is aware of results or
research into other candidates for such a scaffolding. In other words, does
anyone attempt to arrive at self-replicating molecules that are not composed
of nucleic (or amino) acids?
Robert B. Russell
Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics
Oxford
rbr at uk.ac.oxford.biochemistry
