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Originally Posted by kylok
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Also, since I'm bored and know my Ochem mechanisms forwards and backwards... My Ochem teacher is researching Molecular Phylogenetics and wrote a computer program that accurate calculates the entropy of, and the formation of, DNA strands that make up bacteria - one step closer to explaining the how of life instead of "ermahgawd black box = evidence of God".
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I want to derail this thread in an edifying way.
Lets talk about the biggest molecular mystery: the origins of homochirality. Can scientists determine (experimentally) feasible natural phenomena that would lead to a solution of monomers from which a homochiral molecular self-Replicator could propagate?
Also, what sort of ligation chemistry could provide the necessary balance of stability and reactivity to achieve spontaneous assembly of the first self-replicating catalyst? Amides and esters are too inert, as are phosphodiesters. Thioesters and disulfides are reasonable... Maybe hemiacetals?
Its pretty widely accepted that DNA wouldn't provide a suitable self-replicator, because base pairing limits its range of conformers and ties up potential catalytic moieties. Rna is much better suited, and indeed a nearly self-replicating rna sequence has been engineered, but it still seems like an unlikely first selfreplicator because of the monomer complexity and high energy of the phosphodiester bonds. We'll likely never know for sure what the original molecule was, but exploring possible scenarios is an extremely interesting area of study.