Climbing in 190 dimensions

Those who have looked at the night sky—not the dim remnant visible in cities, but the bright complexity seen in high, dark places—can appreciate the task assumed by Wochner et al [who] describe the construction of an RNA enzyme (a template-dependent primed RNA polymerase) that emulates an ancient molecule that would have been crucial in the “RNA world,” believed to have predated DNA- and protein-based life. To find this enzyme, they searched vast molecular populations, holding potentially many, many more RNAs than the visible universe has stars...

...An RNA polymerase capable of Darwinian evolution is now a large step closer. In the old days (say, 2007), we could template product RNAs that were only 8 to 11% as long as the polymerase. Now we are at 48%. One prediction of the 190-dimensional view is that there is likely to be a route leading up to longer RNA transcripts, if only we can find it. With luck, the very next slopes will take us to Darwinian altitudes, where we have not been before...

-- from Climbing in 190 Dimensions by Michael Yarus