Prebiotic Synthesis of Ribonucleotides

[BillTre]

Most current theories of the origin of life assume that RNA arose first, before DNA.
One of the major challenges to this theory is where the ribonucleotides can from.
A recent article (Nature Communications 8: 15270; Divergent prebiotic synthesis of pyrimidine and 8-oxo-purine nucleotides) demonstrates how a prebiotic chemistry might have created these important RNA precursor chemicals.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

That's really interesting! I hadn't heard of this article before. It looks like it could be a major breakthrough in our understanding of how life began. Is there any other research that has been conducted recently that could support or add to this theory?