Reconstructing the processes and reactions that led to the origin of life on earth has proved elusive. While many hypotheses have been proposed certain key stages in our understanding of possible mechanisms in the origin of life remain a major hurdle. Specifically, the development of a system in which three complex polymer systems interact i.e. RNA, protein and DNA, with lipids that stabilize the environment around these polymers. In recent years there has been a revolution in our understanding of the interaction of “simple” protein and nucleic acid constructs and their role in disease, cell regulation and evolution. Alongside fungi, bacteria and viruses, new disease factors such as prions and viroids have expanded our understanding of the variation and complexity of the interactions of proteins and nucleic acids. While these “host reliant” polymer constructs (viruses, prions and viroids) have been extensively studied for their effects in disease of animals and plants, their discovery, diversity and mode of operation is restricted mainly to the medical field. A situation that existed in the study of bacteria for many years before the advent of environmental microbiology! However, these constructs may well display key properties that may well give fundamental insights into processes that governed the start of life on earth. While viruses, viroids and prions have defied a classical definition of life, a definition of “proto-life” may well be more apt. In this talk I seek only to stimulate thought and debate on what are the fundamental properties of these structures that may play a role in the origin of life.
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