News Article: New Research Suggests Simple Approach to Beginning of Life
Original Paper: SMALL MOLECULE INTERACTIONS WERE CENTRALTO THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
Link to Original Research Paper
This Article discusses the chemistry of the origin of life. The prevalent theroy is that enzymatic RNA was the key catalyse to the origin of life; it could play the dual roles of acting as an enyzme in metabolic functions and as carrying genetic information from generation to generation. But the sited study argues that even this minimally complex chemistry is to complex to be the original form of life, and it was a less complex membrane system that can be called the origin of life.
1) The article describes how shapiro et.al propose a diifernet theroy for the chemical upbringings of life. It describes how he refutes the idea that life was started from enzymatic RNA, and instead was formed from simple chemical reactions held inside basic chemical membranes; nick-named "garbage bags". The original article makes the same claim that article describes with the addition of more detail.
2) The original authors in the journal concluded that the reactions that began life were very simple chemical reactions activated by a special "driver" reaction that led to a coupled reactions falling down a thermodynamically stable tree. The article partially describes these conclusion but does not explain the main idea of the mechanism of the reactions proposed only that a different chemical explination of life orgins apart from RNA is proposed.
3) The original journal article realys that his hypothesis for the chemistry of early life is only in the early stages of proof and in order to verify his theroy many more expeirments and tests are needed; and even then there is still some uncertaintiy since it is impossible to know the exact composition and components of early life, the article on the other hand makes it seem like the hypothesis has already acheived theroy status and can be regarded as true.
4) The original article describes how Shapiros findings are epitomized and proved in a recently discorved marine organism that has simmilar reactions to the ones described in the original article, saying that this organism is the represents where are life started from and dubs it the "father of evolution". This connection seems like quite a stretch since the author of the original article makes it clear that the reactions he describes are only theroretical at the current time.
5) The original article refutes the previous claims that life began with enyzmatic RNA and describes an alternitive pathway, the news article makes this very obvious with the whole first page devoted to this.
6) The news article only talks about two hypothesises, the one that describes the origin of life based on RNA and the other as the origin based on the driver activated coupled reactions in "garbage bag" membranes. I cannot find any other hypothesis that are discussed, although the news article does site another study as proof of the the original study which the author of the original article sites as skeptical.