12 Reconstructing the RNA world

A critical event in the origin of life is thought to have been the emergence of an RNA molecule capable of self-replication as well as mutation, and hence evolution towards ever more efficient replication. As this primordial replicase appears to have been lost in time, we use synthetic biology to build modern-day “Doppelgangers” of the ancestral replicase to reconstruct and study their properties in an effort to learn more about life’s first genetic system. I will discuss our progress in the engineering and evolution of RNA polymerase ribozymes as well as the potential role that structured media such as the eutectic phase of water–ice may have played in the emergence of RNA self-replication.