Origins of life: a route to nanotechnology

• Published in: BioSystems Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 69 - 78
• Main Authors: Sowerby, Stephen J., Holm, Nils G., Petersen, George B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-06-2001
• Subjects: Artificial; Genetic code; Homochirality; Hydrothermal; Life; Miniaturization; Prebiotic; RNA world; STM; Technology; Thermodynamics; Artificial; Genetic code; Homochirality; Hydrothermal; Prebiotic; STM; RNA world
• ISSN: 0303-2647; 1872-8324
• DOI: 10.1016/S0303-2647(01)00130-7

The origins of life and nanotechnology are two seemingly disparate areas of scientific investigation. However, the
fundamental questions of life's beginnings and the
applied construction of a Drexlerian nanotechnology both share a similar problem; how
did and how
can self-reproducing molecular machines originate? Here we draw attention to the coincidence between nanotechnology and origins research with particular attention paid to the spontaneous adsorption and scanning tunneling microscopy investigation of purine and pyrimidine bases self-organized into monolayers, adsorbed to the surfaces of crystalline solids. These molecules which encode biological information in nucleic acids, can form supramolecular architectures exhibiting enantiomorphism with the complexity to store and encode putative protobiological information. We conclude that the application of nanotechnology to the investigation of life's origins, and vice versa, could provide a viable route to an evolution–driven synthetic life.