T. R. Cech, The ribosome is a ribozyme, Science, vol.289, issue.878, 2000.

A. Yonath, Polar bears, antibiotics, and the evolving ribosome (Nobel Lecture), Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl, pp.49-4341, 2010.

R. Pascal, L. Boiteau, and A. , Commeyras, From the prebiotic synthesis of a-amino acids towards a primitive translation apparatus for the synthesis of peptides, Prebiotic Chem, Top. Curr. Chem, pp.259-69, 2005.

M. Yarus, The meaning of a minuscule ribozyme, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol.332, issue.6026, 2011.
DOI : 10.1126/science.1200752

R. M. Turk, N. V. Chumachurko, and M. Yarus, Multiple translational products from a five-nucleotide ribozyme, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, pp.4585-4589, 2010.
DOI : 10.1073/pnas.0912895107

P. Leyton, R. Saladino, C. Crestini, M. Campos-vallette, C. Paipa et al., Influence of TiO(2) on prebiotic thermal synthesis of the Gly-Gln polymer, Amino Acids, pp.10-1007, 2011.

Z. Koren and E. N. Trifonov, Role of Everlasting Triplet Expansions in Protein Evolution, Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol.23, issue.2, pp.72-232, 2011.
DOI : 10.1007/s00239-010-9425-0

E. N. Trifonov, A. Kirzhner, V. M. Kirzhner, and I. N. Berezovsky, Distinct Stages of Protein Evolution as Suggested by Protein Sequence Analysis, Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol.53, issue.4-5, p.53, 2001.
DOI : 10.1007/s002390010229

E. N. Trifonov, The origin of the genetic code and of the earliest oligopeptides, Research in Microbiology, vol.160, issue.7, pp.481-486, 2009.
DOI : 10.1016/j.resmic.2009.05.004

P. E. Nielsen, A new molecule of life? Sci, Am, vol.299, pp.64-71, 2008.

P. E. Nielsen, Peptide nucleic acids and the origin of life, Chem. Biodivers, vol.4, 2007.

S. A. Benner, Understanding Nucleic Acids Using Synthetic Chemistry, Accounts of Chemical Research, vol.37, issue.10, pp.784-797, 2004.
DOI : 10.1021/ar040004z

P. M. Solomon, Interstellar molecules, Physics Today, vol.26, issue.3, pp.32-40, 1973.
DOI : 10.1063/1.3127983

D. Despois, J. Crovisier, D. Bockelee-morvan, and N. Biver, Comets and prebiotic chemistry: the volatile component, From European Space Agency, [special publication] SP, SP-518 Proceedings of the Second European Workshop on Exo-Astrobiology, pp.123-127, 2002.

J. Parnell, M. Baron, and P. Lindgren, Potential for irradiation of methane to form complex organic molecules in impact craters: Implications for Mars, Titan and Europa, Journal of Geochemical Exploration, vol.89, issue.1-3, pp.322-325, 2006.
DOI : 10.1016/j.gexplo.2005.11.024

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, G. Costanzo, and E. D. Mauro, On the Prebiotic Synthesis of Nucleobases, Nucleotides, Oligonucleotides, Pre-RNA and Pre-DNA Molecules, Topics in Current Chemistry Prebiotic Chemistry, pp.29-68, 2005.
DOI : 10.1007/b136152

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, F. Ciciriello, G. Costanzo, and E. D. Mauro, Formamide chemistry and the origin of informational polymers, Chem. Biodivers., Helvetica Chim. Acta, vol.4, pp.694-720, 2007.

M. S. Akhter and S. M. Alawi, A comparison of micelle formation of ionic surfactants in formamide, in N-methylformamide and in N,N-dimethylformamide, Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, vol.219, issue.1-3, pp.281-290, 2003.
DOI : 10.1016/S0927-7757(03)00055-4

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, G. Costanzo, R. Negri, and E. D. Mauro, A possible prebiotic synthesis of purine, adenine, cytosine, and 4(3H)-pyrimidinone from formamide implications for the origin of life, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, vol.9, issue.5, pp.1249-1253, 2001.
DOI : 10.1016/S0968-0896(00)00340-0

R. Saladino, U. Ciambecchini, C. Crestini, G. Costanzo, R. Negri et al., One-Pot TiO2-Catalyzed Synthesis of Nucleic Bases and Acyclonucleosides from Formamide: Implications for the Origin of Life, ChemBioChem, vol.100, issue.5, pp.514-521, 2003.
DOI : 10.1002/cbic.200300567

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, U. Ciambecchini, F. Ciciriello, G. Costanzo et al., Synthesis and degradation of nucleobases and nucleic acids by formamide in the presence of montmorillonites, ChemBioChem, pp.5-1558, 2004.

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, V. Neri, J. R. Brucato, L. Colangeli et al., Synthesis and Degradation of Nucleic Acid Components by Formamide and Cosmic Dust Analogues, ChemBioChem, vol.47, issue.8, pp.1368-1374, 2005.
DOI : 10.1002/cbic.200500035

R. Saladino, V. Neri, C. Crestini, G. Costanzo, M. Graciotti et al., Synthesis and degradation of nucleic acid components by formamide and iron sulphur minerals, J. Am. Chem. Soc, p.130, 2008.

. Fig, Sequence complementarity-driven abiotic terminal ligation. Sequence complementarity-driven terminal ligation may occur abiotically in the absence of enzymes by heat-driven transphosphorylation

R. Saladino, V. Neri, C. Crestini, G. Costanzo, M. Graciotti et al., The Role of the Formamide/Zirconia System in the Synthesis of Nucleobases and Biogenic Carboxylic Acid Derivatives, Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol.487, issue.1486, p.71, 2010.
DOI : 10.1007/s00239-010-9366-7

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, C. Cossetti, E. D. Mauro, and D. Deamer, Catalytic effects of Murchison Material: Prebiotic Synthesis and Degradation of RNA Precursors, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, vol.487, issue.5, pp.41-437, 2011.
DOI : 10.1007/s11084-011-9239-0

R. Saladino, M. Barontini, C. Cossetti, E. D. Mauro, and C. Crestini, The Effects of Borate Minerals on the Synthesis of Nucleic Acid Bases, Amino Acids and Biogenic Carboxylic Acids from Formamide, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, vol.487, issue.5, pp.41-317, 2011.
DOI : 10.1007/s11084-011-9236-3

S. D. Senanayake and H. Idriss, Photocatalysis and the origin of life: Synthesis of nucleoside bases from formamide on TiO2(001) single surfaces, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103, 2006.
DOI : 10.1073/pnas.0505768103

H. L. Bark, R. Buckley, G. A. Grieves, E. D. Mauro, N. V. Hud et al., Guanine, adenine, and hypoxanthine production in UV-irradiation formamide solutions: relaxation of the requirement for prebiotic purine nucleobases formation, pp.11-1240, 2010.

A. Eschenmoser and E. , Chemistry of potentially prebiological natural products, Chemical Society Reviews, vol.21, issue.1, pp.1-16, 1992.
DOI : 10.1039/cs9922100001

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, S. Pino, G. Costanzo, and E. D. Mauro, Formamide and the origin of life, Physics of Life Reviews, vol.9, issue.1, pp.84-104, 2012.
DOI : 10.1016/j.plrev.2011.12.002
URL : https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/pasteur-00961566

B. J. Weimann, R. Lohrmann, L. E. Orgel, H. Schneider-bernloehr, and J. E. Sulston, Template-Directed Synthesis with Adenosine-5'-phosphorimidazolide, Science, vol.161, issue.3839, 1968.
DOI : 10.1126/science.161.3839.387

G. F. Joyce, Non-enzymatic template-directed synthesis of RNA copolymers, Origins of Life, vol.60, issue.1-4, pp.613-620, 1984.
DOI : 10.1007/BF00933711

R. Rohatgi, D. P. Bartel, and J. W. Szostak, Nonenzymatic, Template-Directed Ligation of Oligoribonucleotides Is Highly Regioselective for the Formation of 3??????5??? Phosphodiester Bonds, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol.118, issue.14, pp.3340-3344, 1996.
DOI : 10.1021/ja9537134

G. Ertem and J. P. Ferris, Template-Directed Synthesis Using the Heterogeneous Templates Produced by Montmorillonite Catalysis. A Possible Bridge Between the Prebiotic and RNA Worlds, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol.119, issue.31, 1997.
DOI : 10.1021/ja970422h

W. K. Johnston, P. J. Unrau, M. S. Lawrence, M. E. Glasner, and D. P. , RNA-Catalyzed RNA Polymerization: Accurate and General RNA-Templated Primer Extension, Science, vol.292, issue.5520, pp.1319-1325, 2001.
DOI : 10.1126/science.1060786
URL : http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.70.5439

D. E. Kim and G. F. Joyce, Cross-Catalytic Replication of an RNA Ligase Ribozyme, Chemistry & Biology, vol.11, issue.11, pp.1505-1512, 2004.
DOI : 10.1016/j.chembiol.2004.08.021

W. Huang and J. P. Ferris, One-Step, Regioselective Synthesis of up to 50-mers of RNA Oligomers by Montmorillonite Catalysis, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol.128, issue.27, pp.128-8914, 2006.
DOI : 10.1021/ja061782k

G. F. Joyce and L. E. Orgel, Progress towards understanding the origin of the RNA world, RNA World, 2006.

L. K. Cheng and P. J. Unrau, Closing the Circle: Replicating RNA with RNA, Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, vol.2, issue.10, 2010.
DOI : 10.1101/cshperspect.a002204

O. Taran, O. Thoennessen, O. K. Achilles, and G. Kiedrowski, Synthesis of information-carrying polymers of mixed sequences from double stranded short deoxynucleotides, Journal of Systems Chemistry, vol.1, issue.1, 2010.
DOI : 10.1186/1759-2208-1-9

C. Deck, M. Jauker, and C. Richert, Efficient enzyme-free copying of all four nucleobases templated by immobilized RNA, Nature Chemistry, vol.6, issue.8, pp.603-608, 2011.
DOI : 10.1038/nchem.1086

L. E. Orgel, Prebiotic chemistry and the origin of the RNA world, Crit. Rev. Biochem. Mol. Biol, p.39, 2004.

H. D. Bean, Y. Sheng, J. P. Collins, F. A. Anet, J. Leszczynski et al., Formation of a ??-Pyrimidine Nucleoside by a Free Pyrimidine Base and Ribose in a Plausible Prebiotic Reaction, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol.129, issue.31, pp.9556-9557, 2007.
DOI : 10.1021/ja072781a

M. W. Powner, B. Gerland, and J. D. Sutherland, Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions, Nature, vol.21, issue.7244, pp.239-242, 2009.
DOI : 10.1038/nature08013

R. Saladino, V. Neri, and C. Crestini, Role of clays in the prebiotic synthesis of sugar derivatives from formamide, Philosophical Magazine, vol.81, issue.17-18, 2010.
DOI : 10.1080/14786430903559466

R. Breslow and Z. L. Cheng, L-amino acids catalyze the formation of an excess of Dglyceraldehyde , and thus of other D sugars, under credible prebiotic conditions, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, pp.5723-5725, 2010.

A. M. Schoffstall and E. M. Laing, Phosphorylation mechanisms in chemical evolution, Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere, vol.16, issue.2, pp.141-150, 1985.
DOI : 10.1007/BF01809496

G. Costanzo, R. Saladino, C. Crestini, F. Ciciriello, and E. D. Mauro, Nucleoside Phosphorylation by Phosphate Minerals, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol.282, issue.23, pp.282-16729, 2007.
DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M611346200

M. S. Verlander, R. Lohrmann, and L. E. Orgel, Catalysts for the self-polymerization of adenosine cyclic 2???,3???-phosphate, Journal of Molecular Evolution, vol.231, issue.4, pp.2-303, 1973.
DOI : 10.1007/BF01654098

D. A. Usher and A. H. Mchale, Nonenzymic joining of oligoadenylates on a polyuridylic acid template, Science, vol.192, issue.4234, pp.53-54, 1976.
DOI : 10.1126/science.1257755

D. A. Usher and A. H. Mchale, Hydrolytic stability of helical RNA: a selective advantage for the natural 3',5'-bond., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 73, pp.1149-1153, 1976.
DOI : 10.1073/pnas.73.4.1149

G. Costanzo, S. Pino, F. Ciciriello, and E. D. Mauro, Generation of Long RNA Chains in Water, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol.284, issue.48, pp.284-33206, 2009.
DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M109.041905

G. Costanzo, S. Pino, G. Botta, R. Saladino, and E. D. Mauro, May Cyclic Nucleotides Be a Source for Abiotic RNA Synthesis?, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, vol.2, issue.1???2, 2011.
DOI : 10.1007/s11084-011-9249-y

S. A. Rudolph, E. M. Johnson, and P. Greengard, The enthalpy of hydrolysis of various 3',5'-and 2',3'-cyclic nucleotides, J. Biol. Chem, pp.246-1271, 1971.

K. S. Dickson, C. M. Burns, and J. P. Richardson, Determination of the Free-Energy Change for Repair of a DNA Phosphodiester Bond, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol.275, issue.21, pp.275-15828, 2000.
DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M910044199

R. Saladino, C. Crestini, V. Busiello, F. Ciciriello, G. Costanzo et al., Origin of Informational Polymers, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol.280, issue.42, pp.35658-35669, 2005.
DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M504537200

K. E. Van-holde, The origin of life: a thermodynamic critique in " The origins of life and evolution The Origins of Life and Evolution, pp.31-46, 1980.

A. V. Vologodskii, B. R. Amirikyan, Y. L. Lyubchenko, and M. D. Frank-kamenetskii, Allowance for Heterogeneous Stacking in the DNA Helix-Coil Transition Theory, Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics, vol.20, issue.1, pp.131-148, 1984.
DOI : 10.1080/07391102.1984.10507552

R. A. Friedman and B. Honig, A free energy analysis of nucleic acid base stacking in aqueous solution, Biophysical Journal, vol.69, issue.4, pp.69-1528, 1995.
DOI : 10.1016/S0006-3495(95)80023-8

J. Norberg and L. Nilsson, Stacking Free Energy Profiles for All 16 Natural Ribodinucleoside Monophosphates in Aqueous Solution, Journal of the American Chemical Society, vol.117, issue.44, p.117, 1995.
DOI : 10.1021/ja00149a006

R. Luo, H. S. Gilson, M. J. Potter, M. K. Gilson, J. Sponer et al., The physical basis of nucleic acid base stacking in water Nature and magnitude of aromatic stacking of nucleic acid bases, Biophys. J. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys, vol.80, issue.10, 2001.

C. Darwin, The life and letters of Charles Darwin, Letter to Joseph Hooker, pp.1888-1906

S. Rajamani, A. Vlassov, S. Benner, A. Coombs, F. Olasagasti et al., Lipidassisted synthesis of RNA-like polymers from mononucleotides, Orig. Life Evol. Biosph, pp.38-57, 2008.

F. Olasagasti, H. J. Kim, N. Pourmand, and D. W. Deamer, Non-enzymatic transfer of sequence information under plausible prebiotic conditions, Biochimie, vol.93, issue.3, pp.556-561, 2011.
DOI : 10.1016/j.biochi.2010.11.012

S. Pino, F. Ciciriello, G. Costanzo, and E. D. Mauro, Nonenzymatic RNA Ligation in Water, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol.283, issue.52, 2008.
DOI : 10.1074/jbc.M805333200

S. Pino, G. Costanzo, A. Giorgi, and E. D. Mauro, Sequence Complementarity-Driven Nonenzymatic Ligation of RNA, Biochemistry, vol.50, issue.14, pp.2994-3003, 2011.
DOI : 10.1021/bi101981z

S. Pino, M. Biasiucci, M. Scardamaglia, G. Gigli, M. G. Betti et al., Nonenzymatic Ligation of an RNA Oligonucleotide Analyzed by Atomic Force Microscopy, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol.115, issue.19, pp.6296-6303, 2011.
DOI : 10.1021/jp200832w

S. Pino, E. Trifonov, and E. D. Mauro, On the Observable Transition to Living Matter, Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics, vol.9, issue.1-2, pp.7-14, 2011.
DOI : 10.1016/S1672-0229(11)60002-8

G. Costanzo, R. Saladino, G. Botta, A. Giorgi, A. Scipioni et al., Generation of RNA molecules by base catalyzed click-like reaction, Chem. Bio. Chem, 2012.