title: Reaching Back to Jump Forward: Recent Efforts towards a Systems-Level Hypothesis for an Early RNA World.
abstract: In the spring of the world: Reductive homologation of cyanidic precursors creates the carbon scaffold for multiple classes of biologically relevant compounds. This chemistry underpins a scenario for the formation of a protometabolism on the way to an RNA world.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613 (USA). greg.springsteen@furman.edu.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Springsteen
mesh_terms: D000079:Acetaldehyde / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D005985:Glyceraldehyde / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D000069497:Origin of Life; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D012313:RNA / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011743:Pyrimidines; D005985:Glyceraldehyde; D012313:RNA; D000079:Acetaldehyde; C010972:glycolaldehyde
keywords: RNA world; glyceraldehyde; glycolaldehyde; origins of life; pyrimidines