Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad NacionalAutónoma de México, Apdo. Postal 70-407, Cd. Universitaria 04510 México D. F, Mexico.
Hist Philos Life Sci. 2012;34(3):407-23.
The history of the ideas that led to the RNA World hypothesis is reviewed. As the understanding of the properties of RNA molecules progressed, the evolutionary interpretation of their genetic properties and widespread distribution in intracellular environments, as well as the catalytic properties of nucleotide coenzymes and the participation of RNA monomers in metabolic pathways, led to several independent proposals of protein-free primordial life forms. Current ideas on the RNA World are part of a long and storied scientific perspective in which these different hypotheses were developed. However, the lack of continuity between them may be explained in part by the absence of an evolutionary framework that characterized the early development of molecular biology, as well as by the demise of certain areas of research like coenzyme chemistry.
回顾了导致 RNA 世界假说产生的思想发展历程。随着人们对 RNA 分子性质的认识不断深入，其遗传性质及其在细胞内环境中的广泛分布，以及核苷酸辅酶的催化性质和 RNA 单体在代谢途径中的参与，都促使人们对无蛋白质的原始生命形式提出了若干独立的假说。目前有关 RNA 世界的观点是这一系列假说在长期的科学探索中发展而来的一个组成部分。然而，这些假说之间缺乏连续性，部分原因可能是缺少一个能够阐明分子生物学早期发展的进化框架，也可能是由于辅酶化学等某些研究领域的衰落。
