Re: Amino No!
Indeed, my son and his then Prof. were among the early exponents of the RNA World. What got them going was the discovery that some cell processes that could be handled more efficiently by proteins are being handled to this day by RNA structures. They found that these were processes that couldn't be switched from RNA to a protein without killing the cell - and that would have broken the unbroken chain of life on which we (i.e. lifekind) are all built. Ergo, an all-RNA lifeform was probably the precursor to all current DNA/protein life forms. QED.
Fascinating! (Disclosure: I'm just a simple engineer, so the foregoing is my best attempt to understand what my son was telling me all those years ago.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
