Separating copied RNA strands for repeated nonenzymatic copying
In plain words
When RNA is copied without enzymes, the copy sticks tightly to its template, and the heat that pulls them apart also lets them snap back before the next copy is made. A physical cycle that separates and recopies strands is needed.
Precise statement
For nonenzymatic template-directed copying with activated nucleotides or oligomers, find physical conditions (thermal cycling, pH or salt oscillations, thermal gradients with convection and thermophoresis, wet-dry cycles) under which a duplex of 20 to 30 or more nucleotides is melted and copied again with net exponential amplification over at least 5 rounds, without enzymes. Answer: yes or no, with the protocol and its measured amplification per cycle.
What would settle it
An experiment showing multi-round, enzyme-free exponential amplification of a defined RNA sequence of at least 20 nucleotides.
Related problems
- Special case of How chemistry produced the first evolving replicator