News Life To cook up life, just add citrate Theory that RNA spawned first organisms gets boost from common compound By Sam Lemonick November 28, 2013 at 3:05 pm - More than 2 years ago Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to print (Opens in new window) Print A common biochemical may help forge a missing link in a popular but unproven theory about how life got started. One of the leading ideas of how loose molecules evolved to become complex cells begins with the hereditary molecule ribonucleic acid.