1. Introduction

   • Massimo Di Giulio
   • Martin Kreitman

   Editorial 22 October 2009 Pages: 405 - 405

2. RNA–Amino Acid Binding: A Stereochemical Era for the Genetic Code

   • Michael Yarus
   • Jeremy Joseph Widmann
   • Rob Knight

   OriginalPaper Open access 01 October 2009 Pages: 406 - 429

   

3. The Evolutionary History of the Structure of 5S Ribosomal RNA

   • Feng-Jie Sun
   • Gustavo Caetano-Anollés

   OriginalPaper 29 July 2009 Pages: 430 - 443

   

4. A Possible Role of Intracellular Isoelectric Focusing in the Evolution of Eukaryotic Cells and Multicellular Organisms

   • Jaroslav Flegr

   OriginalPaper Open access 18 August 2009 Pages: 444 - 451

   

5. Optimization Models and the Structure of the Genetic Code

   • J. L. Jestin
   • A. Kempf

   OriginalPaper 20 October 2009 Pages: 452 - 457

   

6. The Origin of Life: Chemical Evolution of a Metabolic System in a Mineral Honeycomb?

   • Sergio Branciamore
   • Enzo Gallori
   • Tamás Czárán

   OriginalPaper 06 October 2009 Pages: 458 - 469

   

7. The Conflict Between Horizontal Gene Transfer and the Safeguard of Identity: Origin of Meiotic Sexuality

   • Nicolas Glansdorff
   • Ying Xu
   • Bernard Labedan

   OriginalPaper 26 September 2009 Pages: 470 - 480

8. Hydrothermal Focusing of Chemical and Chemiosmotic Energy, Supported by Delivery of Catalytic Fe, Ni, Mo/W, Co, S and Se, Forced Life to Emerge

   • Wolfgang Nitschke
   • Michael J. Russell

   OriginalPaper 13 November 2009 Pages: 481 - 496

   

9. Disrupted tRNA Gene Diversity and Possible Evolutionary Scenarios

   • Junichi Sugahara
   • Kosuke Fujishima
   • Akio Kanai

   OriginalPaper 14 October 2009 Pages: 497 - 504

   

10. Formal Proof that the Split Genes of tRNAs of Nanoarchaeum equitans Are an Ancestral Character

    • Massimo Di Giulio

    OriginalPaper 17 September 2009 Pages: 505 - 511

    

11. The Evolution of Histidine Biosynthesis in Archaea: Insights into the his Genes Structure and Organization in LUCA

    • Marco Fondi
    • Giovanni Emiliani
    • Renato Fani

    OriginalPaper 03 November 2009 Pages: 512 - 526

    

12. An Overview of the Introns-First Theory

    • David Penny
    • Marc P. Hoeppner
    • Daniel C. Jeffares

    OriginalPaper 24 September 2009 Pages: 527 - 540

    

13. Origin of Self-Replicating Biopolymers: Autocatalytic Feedback Can Jump-Start the RNA World

    • Meng Wu
    • Paul G. Higgs

    OriginalPaper 24 September 2009 Pages: 541 - 554

    

14. On Primordial Sense–Antisense Coding

    • Andrei S. Rodin
    • Sergei N. Rodin
    • Charles W. Carter Jr.

    OriginalPaper 03 December 2009 Pages: 555 - 567

    

15. Mutations and Lethality in Simulated Prebiotic Networks

    • Aron Inger
    • Ariel Solomon
    • Doron Lancet

    OriginalPaper 29 September 2009 Pages: 568 - 578