A fundamental problem in biology is the self-assembly of the first cells capable of growth and division under anoxic conditions on the Earth. Evolution proceeded by self-assembling and self-replicating cells that reproduced their own genetic information and also changed their genetic code over time. Was it also possible that some of the first proteins were catalytic and used gases as substrates and also acted as genetic templates? This paper explores the possibility that primitive protein enzymes used gases as their substrates, and reverse translation may have been a feature in the self-assembly of the first cell(s).