The Origins of Life: The RNA World Hypothesis | Solutions Science with Dr. Albert Fahrenbach #12

The origins of life on earth remains a mystery that piques everyone's interest. To describe the minimal components that contribute to the formation of life, scientists refer to the 'protocell', a pre-life chemical arrangement that contained all the necessary molecules to one day evolve into self-replicating living cells. There are many different hypotheses explaining how the chemistry that creates life may have come from, one of the leading being 'The RNA World Hypothesis'.

This hypothesis posits that of the three main biomolecules, DNA, RNA and proteins, it was RNA that came about first. The thinking here is that RNA is much simpler to produce than complex proteins and can have similar catalytic functions, for example, the ribosome or ribozymes. As such, scientists are trying to recreate early earth conditions trying to prove that RNA can be created, for example from a lighting strike or from electromagnetic radiation.

Dr. Albert Fahrenbach is a researcher in this field, and he gave an incredible break-down of the subject, leaving me much more clued in on the subject than I had been previously.

[sentientflower]

Let me see if I understand this correctly:
Step #1: Miller Urey or some analogous abiotic chemistry.
Step #2: RNA World
Step #3: Protocell
Step #4: DNA "invented or discovered"
Step #5: first living cell!

Is this the scenario or is there some other shorter pathway to the first cell?
Also, given that DNA arrives to the scene late, does RNA perform a census of all the proteins in the cell and translate that information into the genetic code to create the first living cell?