Question

How are self-replicating molecules, such as RNA molecules in the “RNA World” hypothesis, essential to the most popular hypotheses about the origin of life on Earth?

Answer 1

RNA molecules have been shown to be not only self-replicating, information carriers, but catalysts as well. Thus, in the "RNA world," the preexistence of enzymes (proteins) is not required, thus simplifying what might have been needed for life to begin.