Question

Short / Long answer type questions .
Describe the various hypotheses concerning the origin of a self-replication system.

Answer 1

The "genes-first" hypothesis

One possibility is that the first life forms were self-replicating nucleic acids, such as RNA or DNA, and that other elements (like metabolic networks) were a later add-on to this basic system. This is called the genes-first hypothesis.

RNA catalysts are called ribozymes, and they could have played key roles in the RNA world. A catalytic RNA could, potentially, catalyze a chemical reaction to copy itself.

The "metabolism-first" hypothesis

An alternative to the genes-first hypothesis is the metabolism-first hypothesis, which suggests that self-sustaining networks of metabolic reactions may have been the first simple life (predating nucleic acids).
.