Researchers: Genetic code emerging in an RNA world faces “insuperable problems”

They look to self-organization instead. In a special edition of Biosystems on Code Biology, you will find:

Abstract: Differential equations for error-prone information transfer (template replication, transcription or translation) are developed in order to consider, within the theory of autocatalysis, the advent of coded protein synthesis. Variations of these equations furnish a basis for comparing the plausibility of contrasting scenarios for the emergence of specific tRNA aminoacylation, ultimately by enzymes, and the relationship of this process with the origin of the universal system of molecular biological information processing embodied in the Central Dogma. The hypothetical RNA World does not furnish an adequate basis for explaining how this system came into being, but principles of self-organisation that transcend Darwinian natural selection furnish an unexpectedly robust basis for a rapid, concerted transition to genetic coding from a peptide·RNA world. Peter R.Wills, Charles W. Carter, Jr., “Insuperable problems of the genetic code initially emerging in an RNA world” (paywall) at Biosystems
Volume 164, February 2018, Pages 155-166

Note: “ The hypothetical RNA World does not furnish an adequate basis for explaining how this system came into being, principles of self-organisation that transcend Darwinian natural selection furnish an unexpectedly robust basis for a rapid, concerted transition to genetic coding from a peptide·RNA world.”

That’s pretty direct. They might be hearing somewhat back soon, as the troops used to say in World War I.

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See also: Natural genetic engineering? Natural popcorn? Or something more important? (self-organization)

and

Welcome to RNA World: The five-star hotel of origin-of-life theories

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