{"626632":{"#nid":"626632","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"RNA-DNA Chimeras Might Have Supported the Origin of Life on Earth","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMolecules that combine elements of RNA and DNA, so-called chimeric molecules, may have been an important step in the emergence of life on Earth from the primordial soup that existed billions of years ago, according to a study published yesterday (September 16) in\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41557-019-0322-x\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Chemistry\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;The work came out of research exploring the transition from RNA-based lifeforms to the DNA-based life that is ubiquitous today. Chimeric RNA-DNA molecules have some advantages that might make them better candidates than pure RNA for the first reproducing molecules. \u0026ldquo;There are times when we have mixtures, rather than just the isolated reactants that people typically use, and we get better results,\u0026rdquo; \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/hud\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENicholas Hud\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, a chemist at Georgia Tech who was not involved in the new study, tells\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/origin-of-life-study-points-to-chemical-chimeras-not-rna-20190916\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EQuanta\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. When mixtures are taken into consideration, the emergence of life on Earth in some ways \u0026ldquo;is not as hard as we might think it is.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2019-09-23 22:01:33","changed_gmt":"2019-09-23 22:29:50","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"step challenge","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.the-scientist.com\/news-opinion\/rna-dna-chimeras-might-have-supported-the-origin-of-life-on-earth-66437","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"611625":{"id":"611625","type":"image","title":"Nicholas Hud","body":null,"created":"1537287309","gmt_created":"2018-09-18 16:15:09","changed":"1537287309","gmt_changed":"2018-09-18 16:15:09","alt":"","file":{"fid":"232838","name":"nick-hud-ba-uracil_1__1_.sq250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nick-hud-ba-uracil_1__1_.sq250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/nick-hud-ba-uracil_1__1_.sq250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":83439,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/nick-hud-ba-uracil_1__1_.sq250.jpg?itok=ff5mauLT"}}},"media_ids":["611625"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"182459","name":"RNA-DNA chimeras"},{"id":"9854","name":"Origin Of Life"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}