Learning Goals/Objectives for Chapter 7E:  After class and this reading, students will be able to

• define a ribozyme and describe their known activities;
• identify, given a reaction mechanism, the types of catalytic mechanisms that occur during ribozyme catalysis;
• contrast the chemical and physical properties of dsDNA, ssRNA, and proteins and how they may confer on these polymers critical attributes necessary for their biological functions/activities;
• give reasons that would explain how simple life might have originated using RNA, not DNA and proteins, as both the carrier of genetic information and as biological catalyst.