The Narrow Road to the Deep Past: In Search of the Chemistry of the Origin of Life

The sequence of events that gave rise to the first life on our planet took place in the Earth's deep past, seemingly forever beyond our reach. Perhaps for that very reason the idea of reconstructing our ancient story is tantalizing, almost irresistible. Understanding the processes that led to synthesis of the chemical building blocks of biology and the ways in which these molecules self-assembled into cells that could grow, divide and evolve, nurtured by a rich and complex environment, seems at times insurmountably difficult. And yet, to my own surprise, simple experiments have revealed robust processes that could have driven the growth and division of primitive cell membranes. The nonenzymatic replication of RNA is more complicated and less well understood, but here too significant progress has come from surprising developments. Even our efforts to combine replicating compartments and genetic materials into a full protocell model have moved forward in unexpected ways. Fortunately, many challenges remain before we will be close to a full understanding of the origin of life, so the future of research in this field is brighter than ever!