Prebiotic RNA: From Autocatalysis and Chirality to Functional Evolution
A special issue of Life (ISSN 2075-1729). This special issue belongs to the section "Origin of Life".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2026 | Viewed by 1
Special Issue Editor
Interests: origin of life; RNA structure and evolution; RNA world; mathematical and computational models; phylogenetic methods; molecular evolution; population genetics; biophysics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
It is widely accepted that RNA played a key role in the origin of life, but just what it did and how it did it is far from certain. This issue brings together contributions related to all aspects of RNA synthesis, replication, and catalysis.
- What are the chemical pathways by which nucleotides and RNAs could be synthesized prebiotically? In what environment did this chemistry occur? Is there some pre-RNA stage that is necessary in the pathway to life?
- How could non-enzymatic RNA replication occur? Can we demonstrate sustainable non-enzymatic replication in the lab? Could functional ribozyme sequences emerge from a mixture of random RNAs?
- How could ribozyme-catalyzed replication occur? Can we demonstrate sustainable self-replicating ribozymes in the lab?
- What functions did the first ribozymes perform? How could ribozymes contribute to the survival and reproduction of protocells, in addition to replication of their own sequences?
- How did the relationship between RNA and proteins arise? Was there a ribozyme-catalyzed metabolism prior to protein enzymes? How could peptides contribute to RNA function? How could we select for peptide synthesis, and for the invention of ribosomes and the genetic code?
- How is RNA relevant to the origin of homochirality? Did the chirality of RNA arise before or after the chirality of proteins? Did this occur at the level of single nucleotides or of replicating RNA strands?
- What (if anything) makes RNA special? Would RNA, or something similar, be selected by life on another planet?
Prof. Dr. Paul Higgs
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- RNA
- origin of life
- replication
- autocatalysis
- chirality
- ribozymes
- metabolism
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