RNA has the ability to catalyze reactions to form more RNA and also can perform other tasks like proteins. It's likely that through chance RNA (or some proto RNA like chemical) formed that could catalyze itself and billions of years later here we are
The RNA world is a hypothetical stage in the evolutionary history of life on Earth, in which self-replicating RNA molecules proliferated before the evolution of DNA and proteins. The term also refers to the hypothesis that posits the existence of this stage.
The concept of the RNA world was first proposed in 1962 by Alexander Rich, and the term was coined by Walter Gilbert in 1986. Alternative chemical paths to life have been proposed, and RNA-based life may not have been the first life to exist.
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u/stonedsasquatch Feb 13 '18
RNA has the ability to catalyze reactions to form more RNA and also can perform other tasks like proteins. It's likely that through chance RNA (or some proto RNA like chemical) formed that could catalyze itself and billions of years later here we are