Evolution requires self-replication. But, what was the very first self-replicator directly ancestral to all life? The currently favoured RNA World theory assigns this role to RNA alone but suffers from a number of seemingly intractable problems. Instead, we suggest that the self-replicator consisted of both peptides and nucleic acid strands. Such a nucleopeptide replicator is more feasible both in the light of the replication machinery currently found in cells and the complexity of the evolutionary path required to reach them. Recent theoretical and mathematical work supports this idea and provide a blueprint for future investigations.

中文翻译：

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生命的肽-核酸复制子。

进化需要自我复制。但是，直接起源于所有生命的第一个自我复制者是什么？目前流行的《 RNA世界》理论仅将这种作用分配给了RNA，但遭受了许多看似棘手的问题。相反，我们建议该自我复制子由肽和核酸链组成。鉴于目前在细胞中发现的复制机制和到达它们所需的进化途径的复杂性，这样的核苷酸肽复制子是更可行的。最近的理论和数学工作支持了这一想法，并为将来的研究提供了蓝图。