I came across the summary of an interesting paper that concludes as follows:
Based on the computer model they developed, the scientists demonstrated that specific lipid compositions, called "composomes", can undergo compositional mutations, be subject to natural selection in response to environmental changes, and even undergo Darwinian selection. Prof. Lancet comments that such an information system, which is based on compositions and not on the sequence of chemical "letters" as in DNA, is reminiscent of the realm of epigenetics, where traits are inherited independent of the DNA sequence. This lends credence to the scientists' assumption that life could emerge before the advent of DNA and RNA. In their article they in fact delineate a chemical path that lead to the appearance of genetic material in the framework of the oily droplets.
If "... life could emerge before the advent of DNA and RNA," then the assertion I have heard from at least one Deutschian that "DNA invented life" is questionable, if not false, and that Denis and Ray Noble's view of the cell's importance in evolution is supported.
