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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

How to get life from the primordial ooze


While the potential for the basic bricks of life to form was demonstrated early in the history of modern science, how could these organic molecules get together to become the long chains of RNA or DNA, and hence life, has remained a mystery.


The problem is that oligonucleotides react and don't bind together under normal conditions. However researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have found now that certain "midwife" molecules, known more technically as "intercalators" cause such binding, creating longer polymers, RNA or DNA, the kernel of life.

Hence one of the main problems of paleo-biology seems to have been solved.

Read more at Science Daily.

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