On Translation by RNAs Alone

In this paper, I discuss the first protein biosynthesis andask in particular whether modern experiments bear on theancient emergence of coded proteins. The crux of this investigation is the premise that there was an RNA World(White 1976; Gilbert 1986). Accordingly, we posit an eraimmediately preceding the current Nucleoprotein World,when our ancestral biota used a congener of RNA as theprincipal informational and catalytic molecule.