Origin of life theory involving RNA–protein hybrid gets new support

Chemists say they have solved a crucial problem in a theory of life’s beginnings, by demonstrating that RNA molecules can link short chains of amino acids together. This might have allowed for ever-more complex RNAs, proteins and combinations of the two — a possible path to the chemistry of life that we know today. The findings support a variation on the ‘RNA world’ hypothesis, which proposes that, before DNA evolved, the chemical ancestors of biological life were based on RNA.