Amino acids as catalysts in the emergence of RNA

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The question of how life could have emerged is one of the most long-standing mysteries in science. In a new study, the laboratory of LMU Professor Dieter Braun has uncovered an unexpected form of molecular collaboration between the fundamental components of life. The researchers found that amino acids – simple, abundant molecules on early Earth – can actively promote the polymerization of RNA under mild, prebiotic conditions. This finding challenges long-held assumptions about the “RNA world” at the origin of life and suggests that life may have started through a more balanced interplay between RNA and amino acids.

Biopolymers composed of different building blocks are essential for living systems. RNA, a molecular thread comprising four bases, creates the blueprint for the production of proteins from amino acids. These proteins, in turn, drive all biochemical reactions inside cells. “Life as we know it today is a complex collaboration of two informational polymers: RNA and proteins. The big question is: Why and how did they join forces at the beginning of life, even before Darwinian molecular evolution began?” asks Dieter Braun, principal investigator of the study

Read full LMU press release.