title: Self-replicating systems.
abstract: Over the past 25 years, there has been a surge of development in research towards self-replication and self-replicating systems. The interest in these systems relates to one of the most fundamental questions posed in all fields of science - How did life on earth begin? Investigating how the self-replication process evolved may hold the key to understanding the emergence and evolution of living systems and, ultimately, gain a clear insight into the origin of life on earth. This introductory review aims to highlight the fundamental prerequisites of self-replication along with the important research that has been conducted over the past few decades.
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield, Department of Chemistry, Sheffield, Northern Ireland, UK. l.j.twyman@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Clixby
authors.affiliation: University of Sheffield, Department of Chemistry, Sheffield, Northern Ireland, UK. l.j.twyman@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Lance
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Twyman