Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Jan;16(1):7-17.
doi: 10.1038/nrg3841. Epub 2014 Nov 11.

The RNA World: molecular cooperation at the origins of life

Paul G Higgs  1 , Niles Lehman  2
Affiliations
Review

The RNA World: molecular cooperation at the origins of life

Paul G Higgs et al. Nat Rev Genet. 2015 Jan.

Abstract

The RNA World concept posits that there was a period of time in primitive Earth's history - about 4 billion years ago - when the primary living substance was RNA or something chemically similar. In the past 50 years, this idea has gone from speculation to a prevailing idea. In this Review, we summarize the key logic behind the RNA World and describe some of the most important recent advances that have been made to support and expand this logic. We also discuss the ways in which molecular cooperation involving RNAs would facilitate the emergence and early evolution of life. The immediate future of RNA World research should be a very dynamic one.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Mol Evol. 2009 Nov;69(5):541-54 - PubMed
    1. Phys Life Rev. 2012 Sep;9(3):219-63 - PubMed
    1. Chem Biol. 2006 Aug;13(8):909-18 - PubMed
    1. J Theor Biol. 2015 Jan 7;364:249-59 - PubMed
    1. J Mol Evol. 1976 Mar 29;7(2):101-4 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources