title: The place of metabolism in the origin of life.
abstract: Metabolism and replication are generally considered essential features of biological life. Workers in the field of the origin of life are mostly split into two groups, depending on which of these two functions is postulated to have occurred first. Because of difficulties encountered by the replication-first (or genetics-first) approach, some workers have postulated that a highly developed metabolism must have originated before replication and the formation of a genetic apparatus. However, as supporters of a replication-first approach have pointed out, and as is discussed in this article, the alternative metabolism-first approach has fundamental problems that have not been sufficiently addressed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. anet@chemucla.edu
authors.forename: Frank Al
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Anet
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D004261:DNA Replication; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008954:Models, Biological; D000069497:Origin of Life
chemical_list: D004247:DNA