So argues an article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:
How did the first cell originate in evolution? It is a chicken or the egg causality dilemma: a cell doesn’t function without a cell wall, but how does the cell wall form if there is no cell? Research by chemist Wilhelm Huck, professor at Radboud University Nijmegen, suggests that the cell came first.
In a solution containing the biomolecules that are normally locked in a cell (like DNA, RNA, enzymes, proteins) these large biomolecules clustered together spontaneously when the salt concentration was increased. This indicates that a cell wall is not a prerequisite for a cell-like structure.
Huh? Maybe a frame and sides are not necessary for a house or a suitcase either, it’s just that …
The underlying problem is that the researchers are trying to find a way that it happened purely by accident; hence these resorts to implausibility even in major journals.
See also: Origin of life: An unreasonable standard of proof?
Why origin of life studies
won’t flatline
Origin of life studies flatlined