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Compositional genomes: Prebiotic information transfer in mutually catalytic noncovalent assemblies
Open accessAbstract
Mutually catalytic sets of simple organic molecules have been suggested to be capable of self-replication and rudimentary chemical evolution. Previous models for the behavior of such sets have analyzed the global properties of short biopolymer ensembles by using graph theory and a mean field approach. In parallel, experimental studies with the autocatalytic formation of amphiphilic assemblies (e.g., lipid vesicles or micelles) demonstrated self-replication properties resembling those of living cells. Combining these approaches, we analyze here the kinetic behavior of small heterogeneous assemblies of spontaneously aggregating molecules, of the type that could form readily under prebiotic conditions. A statistical formalism for mutual rate enhancement is used to numerically simulate the detailed chemical kinetics within such assemblies. We demonstrate that a straightforward set of assumptions about kinetically enhanced recruitment of simple amphiphilic molecules, as well as about the spontaneous growth and splitting of assemblies, results in a complex population behavior. The assemblies manifest a significant degree of homeostasis, resembling the previously predicted quasi-stationary states of biopolymer ensembles (Dyson, F. J. (1982) J. Mol. Evol. 18, 344-350). Such emergent catalysis-driven, compositionally biased entities may be viewed as having rudimentary "compositional genomes." Our analysis addresses the question of how mutually catalytic metabolic networks, devoid of sequence-based biopolymers, could exhibit transfer of chemical information and might undergo selection and evolution. This computed behavior may constitute a demonstration of natural selection in populations of molecules without genetic apparatus, suggesting a pathway from random molecular assemblies to a minimal protocell.
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In the citing paper
“Our published analyses of the ensuing dynamic behaviour of GARD clearly reveal a capacity for homeostatic growth, which is shown to result in, and be a prerequisite for compositional inheritance [54,56].”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“This provided support for applying a functional form derived from equilibrium values (affinities) to catalytic (rate enhancement) values as done in GARD [53,54]”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“Along these lines, we have inferred a receptor affinity distribution (RAD) broadly applicable to the immune and olfactory systems via a close analogue of string matching [65,79]. This portrayed a Poisson distribution, which in GARD applications [54] was approximated by a lognormal distribution [80].”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“Importantly, in the GARD realm, a series of compositional mutations would mark the temporary demise of a composome C1 but in the longer run would spell the subsequent dynamic emergence of another composome C2 [54].”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“If we use our standard reactor scene, the initial combinatorically generated 1000 assemblies will obligatorily be vastly different from each other, nearly orthogonal [54,121,122].”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“Such fluctuations are catalytically augmented, culminating in the appearance of a composome [54,88].”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
In the citing paper
“This is evidenced by fact that if a GARD assembly is allowed to go to equilibrium, e.g. by restricting the external amphiphile supply, the assembly's internal concentrations go to values dictated by the equilibrium constants, and become decisively different from those in the composomal state [54] (figure 10).”
From Systems protobiology: origin of life in lipid catalytic networks (2018) · cites this paper as [54]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Segré, D., Ben-Eli, D., & Lancet, D.
- Affiliations
- Department of Molecular Genetics and the Crown Human Genome Center, The Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel
- Crown Human Genome Center (IL)
- ORCID
- Lancet, Doron
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2000-04-11
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 4112-4117
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC18166
- OpenAlex
- W2025579355
- Cited by
- 398
- References
- 71
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 41 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 6.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Keywords
- prebiotic chemistry, autocatalytic sets, chemical evolution, self-replication, lipid vesicles, micelles, reaction kinetics, homeostasis, quasi-stationary states, protocells, information transmission
- MeSH terms
- Catalysis, Kinetics, Models, Genetic, Genome
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