Since the time of Darwin, naturalists have attempted to explain how life formed through purely natural causes. Some naturalist models argued that either DNA or a protein provided the first possibility for life. However, problems with these models became evident as the researcher’s knowledge of DNA grew. The researchers discovered DNA relies on proteins for transcription and translation, but functional proteins cannot form without the information stored in DNA. The solution to the problem seemed to lie in RNA, the mediator between DNA and proteins. It has been discovered that RNA can catalyze many reactions, and RNA might catalyze its own replication. If RNA could self-replicate natural selection or some other mechanism could act to create a more complex RNA. If this were the case than RNA might have increased in complexity until it could code for a viable life …show more content…
The strongest difficulty with any naturalist explanation of life 's origins is showing how the primary building blocks were created. In RNA the building blocks are a nitrogenous base known as a nucleoside, and a sugar called ribose. When these molecules combine they form a nucleotide, and these nucleotides connect to form the chain-like structure of RNA. It is believed that ribose formed as a byproduct of a formose reaction in the prebiotic soup. However, Ribose would not be stable in the prebiotic soup, due to the soups high reactivity. Marc Neveu discusses this problem in his article “The 'Strong ' RNA World.” In it he says “[T]he formose process is considered inadequate to have delivered carbohydrates to a prebiotic world; the carbohydrates formed are prone to react with each other under the