The plausibility of theories postulating the development of complex chemical organization without …

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Nonenzymatic Metabolism
• The Beilstein Handbook and Citric Acid Cycle
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References
• Figures

Biology Articles » Evolutionary Biology » Origin of Life » Self-organizing biochemical cycles » Conclusions

Conclusions

- Self-organizing biochemical cycles

The novel, potentially replicating polymers that have been described up to now, like the nucleic acids, are formed by joining together relatively complex monomeric units. It is hard to see how any could have accumulated on the early earth. A plausible scenario for the origin of life must, therefore, await the discovery of a genetic polymer simpler than RNA and an efficient, potentially prebiotic, synthetic route to the component monomers. The suggestion that relatively pure, complex organic molecules might be made available in large amounts via a self-organizing, autocatalytic cycle might, in principle, help to explain the origin of the component monomers. I have emphasized the implausibility of the suggestion that complicated cycles could self-organize, and the importance of learning more about the potential of surfaces to help organize simpler cycles.