Origins of life: first came evolutionary dynamics

Abstract

AbstractWhen life arose from prebiotic molecules 3.5 billion years ago, what came first? Informational molecules (RNA, DNA), functional ones (proteins), or something else? We argue here for a different logic: rather than seeking amolecule type, we seek adynamical process.Biology required an ability to evolve before it could choose and optimise materials. We hypothesise that theevolution processwas rooted in thepeptide folding process.Modelling shows how short random peptides can collapse in water and catalyse the elongation of others, powering both increased folding stability and emergent autocatalysis through a disorder-to-order process.