title: On the observable transition to living matter.
abstract: In recent developments in chemistry and genetic engineering, the humble researcher dealing with the origin of life finds her(him)self in a grey area of tackling something that even does not yet have a clear definition agreed upon. A series of chemical steps is described to be considered as the life-nonlife transition, if one adheres to the minimalistic definition: life is self-reproduction with variations. The fully artificial RNA system chosen for the exploration corresponds sequence-wise to the reconstructed initial triplet repeats, presumably corresponding to the earliest protein-coding molecules. The demonstrated occurrence of the mismatches (variations) in otherwise complementary syntheses ("self-reproduction"), in this RNA system, opens an experimental and conceptual perspective to explore the origin of life (and its definition), on the apparent edge of the origin.
authors.affiliation: Charles Darwin Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Sapienza University of Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Samanta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pino
authors.forename: Edward N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Trifonov
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Mauro
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005815:Genetic Code; D019369:Life; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D000069497:Origin of Life; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D009711:Nucleotides; D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA