Isn't this basically the "RNA world" hypothesis? There should definitely be papers on that. Recently there was a new paper on the question how it could actually have been possible for the RNA bases to emerge from inorganic molecules. For a long time the RNA world hypothesis was (is) very popular yet from a chemistry point of view it is quite hard for RNA bases to form from inorganic starting materials (if I understood correctly). Whereas amino acids form comparatively easy from such starting materials. That's why some hypothesized that proteins might have been the origin of life. Yet protein can't replicate themselves. Even prions need existing correctly folded proteins to convert them into their prion state. That's the cool thing about ribozymes. They can self replicate.

There is a book by Freeman Dyson called "Origins of life". He talks about the possibility of a self replicating polynucleotide as the supposed origin of life on earth.

But if these would really be the "origin of life" why are they only found in plants?