Thus there is a paradox. Both nucleic acids and proteins are required to function before selection can act at present, and yet the origin of this association is too improbable to have occurred without selection. (T. Dobzhansky et al, Evolution, 1977, 359)
I'm not saying this thought is so convincing that all discussion is closed. It's just a curious thing.
Keep going back on the evolutionary trail and you come to this point. How did such complex structures as nucleic acids and proteins come to be? One can't exist without the other. They are interdependent.
Thus there is a paradox. Both nucleic acids and proteins are required to function before selection can act at present, and yet the origin of this association is too improbable to have occurred without selection. (T. Dobzhansky et al, Evolution, 1977, 359)
I'm not saying this thought is so convincing that all discussion is closed. It's just a curious thing.
Keep going back on the evolutionary trail and you come to this point. How did such complex structures as nucleic acids and proteins come to be? One can't exist without the other. They are interdependent.
Thomas Cech earned the Nobel Prize in 1989 for discovering that this isn't always true. In fact there are over 300 examples of catalytic RNA that have been found in nature since then.
You might enjoy some of these (somewhat technical) video lectures by Cech. See especially RNA as an Enzyme: Discovery, Origins of Life, and Medical Possibilities [DSL version]
If you google on "Thomas Cech" or "ribozyme" you'll find a lot of articles on this.