SELF-REPLICATING MOLECULES. “The “self” is now clearly defined; however, it can be a single self-replicating molecule or a network of related cooperators. Here we are using the example of RNA as the informational polymer, but the same conclusions were to apply if other polymers, or even inorganic lattices or compositional sets of macromolecules such as lipids, were the ancestral genotypes.”
http://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/2/4/313/htm