Before DNA, Before RNA: Life in the Hodge-Podge World

Before DNA, Before RNA: Life in the Hodge-Podge World

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Because RNA can do many things at once, those studying the origins of life have long thought that it was the first genetic material. But the discovery that a chemical relative called TNA can perform one of RNA’s defining functions calls this into question. Instead, the very first forms of life may have used a mix of genetic materials.