Abiogenesis?

Question

can anyone explain how the amino acids once combined to be the building blocks made the jump from the long chains to living single cell critters?

Answer 1

This ten minute video found on youtube is one of the best explanations I've seen.  It's from the mind of Dr. Szostak, a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6QYDdgP9...

Answer 2

I love how that video suddenly makes the statement:

"The pre-biotic environment contained hundreds of types of different nucleotides (not just DNA and RNA)"

Never makes any attempt to explain where they come from, which is really the whole question of abiogenesis. It might answer the question that the asker here was looking for though. I just wanted to point out that this was a very misleading video and should not be taken seriously for any origin of life.

Answer 3

There are a number of assumptions in your question that are not established.

1) Amino acids may not have been the sole compounds (or even a component.  RNA like molecules or even simpler compounds (e.g. tholins) may have been involved.

2) Life may have existed before cells.

3) Even the assumption "chains" (as opposed to less linear structures is an assumption.

Given the failure to have an absolute definition of life, this gets to be tricky.  Simply put, once a molecule gained the ability to catalyze reactions that would produce a similar molecule with similar capabilities one the average of more than once in the molecule's mean stable lifespan, a chain reaction would be started.