Re: Amino No!
Both the RNA polymerase complex which reads DNA into RNA and the ribosome which reads RNA strings to make proteins are largely made of RNAs.
From my casual reading, a polymerase is an enzyme, an enzyme is a protein, and a protein is an amino acid residue. Therefore no amino acids, no amino acid residues, no proteins, no enzymes, no polymerase, no replication.
Note that there is no scientifically accepted consensus on the definition of life. There is onging, current debate on whether, for example, viruses are considered 'alive' or not. About the only consensus is on what basics (in terms of molecules) are needed - but not necessarily sufficient in and of themselves - for life.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
