<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/7ca3521d-bb74-42b1-8f6c-eeba86cc2dae/AE045361-2C29-4E45-8E52-C8A732BDB2DD/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/05/the-origin-of-life-in-an-rna-world/" href="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/05/the-origin-of-life-in-an-rna-world/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.britannica.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/05/the-origin-of-life-in-an-rna-world/"><DIV class="slug_text"> <H2><A class="titlelink" title="Permanent Link to The Origin of Life in an RNA World" rel="bookmark" href="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/05/the-origin-of-life-in-an-rna-world/">The Origin of Life in an RNA World</A> </H2> </DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/05/the-origin-of-life-in-an-rna-world/"><P><A title="Earth" href="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/earth.jpg" rel="lightbox[pics6147]"><IMG height="240" align="right" width="300" alt="Earth" src="http://www.britannica.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/earth.jpg" /></A>RNA is at the center of origin-of-life studies for multiple reasons, but mostly because it is a <A href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/99128/catalyst">catalyst</A>—a molecule that facilitates chemical reactions and survives to do it again and again.  The beginning of life on Earth required a catalyst, something that could produce many life forms, not just one that existed and then died without progeny.  Also, RNA is a carrier and translator of genetic information.  In fact, RNA can perform all the catalytic and replication processes needed to generate self-sustaining life.  A single autocatalytic RNA molecule could have spawned countless other RNA molecules, and some of these were probably more efficient than their predecessors, thereby setting in motion the processes of natural selection and evolution.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/AE045361-2C29-4E45-8E52-C8A732BDB2DD/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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