{"title":"Life should be redefined: Any molecule with the ability to self-replicate should be considered life.","authors":"Zheng Liu","doi":"10.12688/f1000research.151912.2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding the nature of life and its propensity for reproduction has long been a question that humans aspire to answer. Reproduction, a defining characteristic of life, fundamentally involves the replication of genetic material, be it DNA or RNA. The driving force behind this replication process has always intrigued scientists. In recent years, theories involving selfish genes, the RNA world, and entropic forces have been proposed by some scholars. These theories seem to suggest that life, as we know it, exists solely in Earth's environment and is based on a single type of genetic material, either DNA or RNA. However, if we broaden our definition of life to include any replicable molecules, we might be able to transcend traditional thought. This could potentially enhance our understanding of the impetus behind DNA replication and provide deeper insights into the essence of life.</p>","PeriodicalId":12260,"journal":{"name":"F1000Research","volume":"13 ","pages":"736"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11467646/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"F1000Research","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.151912.2","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Understanding the nature of life and its propensity for reproduction has long been a question that humans aspire to answer. Reproduction, a defining characteristic of life, fundamentally involves the replication of genetic material, be it DNA or RNA. The driving force behind this replication process has always intrigued scientists. In recent years, theories involving selfish genes, the RNA world, and entropic forces have been proposed by some scholars. These theories seem to suggest that life, as we know it, exists solely in Earth's environment and is based on a single type of genetic material, either DNA or RNA. However, if we broaden our definition of life to include any replicable molecules, we might be able to transcend traditional thought. This could potentially enhance our understanding of the impetus behind DNA replication and provide deeper insights into the essence of life.
F1000ResearchPharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics-Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics (all)
CiteScore
5.00
自引率
0.00%
发文量
1646
审稿时长
1 weeks
期刊介绍：
F1000Research publishes articles and other research outputs reporting basic scientific, scholarly, translational and clinical research across the physical and life sciences, engineering, medicine, social sciences and humanities. F1000Research is a scholarly publication platform set up for the scientific, scholarly and medical research community; each article has at least one author who is a qualified researcher, scholar or clinician actively working in their speciality and who has made a key contribution to the article. Articles must be original (not duplications). All research is suitable irrespective of the perceived level of interest or novelty; we welcome confirmatory and negative results, as well as null studies. F1000Research publishes different type of research, including clinical trials, systematic reviews, software tools, method articles, and many others. Reviews and Opinion articles providing a balanced and comprehensive overview of the latest discoveries in a particular field, or presenting a personal perspective on recent developments, are also welcome. See the full list of article types we accept for more information.
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