Spatial aspects of prebiotic replicator coexistence and community stability in a surface-bound RNA world model
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The coexistence of macromolecular replicators and thus the stability of presumed prebiotic replicator communities have been shown to critically depend on spatially constrained catalytic cooperation among RNA-like modular replicators. The necessary spatial constraints might have been supplied by mineral surfaces initially, preceding the more effective compartmentalization in membrane vesicles which must have been a later development of chemical evolution. RESULTS: Using our surface-bound RNA world model - the Metabolic Replicator Model (MRM) platform - we show that the mobilities on the mineral substrate surface of both the macromolecular replicators and the small molecules of metabolites they produce catalytically are the key factors determining the stable persistence of an evolvable metabolic replicator community. CONCLUSION: The effects of replicator mobility and metabolite diffusion on different aspects of replicator coexistence in MRM are determined, including the maximum attainable size of the metabolic replicator system and its resistance to the invasion of parasitic replicators. We suggest a chemically plausible hypothetical scenario for the evolution of the first protocell starting from the surface-bound MRM system.
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MCRS models have shown robust ecological stability against changing replicator degradation rates, applying both sequence-length-dependent and -independent decay rates.
“The MCRS models have shown robust ecological stability against changing the replicator degradation rates (which correspond to environmental perturbations), by applying both sequence-length-dependent and -independent decay rates [33,36].”
From Ecology and Evolution in the RNA World Dynamics and Stability of Prebiotic Replicator Systems (2017) · cites this paper as [36]
The Results (page not available) state that the study varied spatial parameters while keeping other parameters constant, including the decay rate at d = 0.2. The Methods describe decay probability as constant. The reported robustness concerns persistence across repeated runs, not stability under changing degradation rates or a comparison of sequence-length-dependent and -independent decay. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe stochastic lattice implementation of the spatially explicit MCRS model keeps all metabolic replicators coexistent and shows robust ecological stability.
“Unlike the mean-field version, the stochastic (lattice) implementation of the spatially explicit MCRS model keeps all the metabolic replicators coexistent and shows robust ecological stability (Figure 9) [33,36,37].”
From Ecology and Evolution in the RNA World Dynamics and Stability of Prebiotic Replicator Systems (2017) · cites this paper as [36]
The MCRS models offer a chemically and ecologically feasible spatial mechanism for robust maintenance of a metabolically active set of different ribozymes attached to mineral surfaces.
“The growing family of the Metabolically Coupled Replicator System (MCRS) models offer a chemically and ecologically feasible spatial mechanism for the robust maintenance of a metabolically active set of different ribozymes attached to mineral surfaces”
From Ecology and Evolution in the RNA World Dynamics and Stability of Prebiotic Replicator Systems (2017) · cites this paper as [36]
Toy versions of MCRS have capacity to maintain diversity at about order of ten different replicators, but chemically more explicit versions have not yet been studied from this aspect.
“The toy-versions of the MCRS model have a capacity to maintain diversity at about the order of ten different replicators [36] but the chemically more explicit—and dynamically more stable—versions have not yet been studied from this aspect.”
From Ecology and Evolution in the RNA World Dynamics and Stability of Prebiotic Replicator Systems (2017) · cites this paper as [36]
The ecological stability and parasite resistance of MCRS is spectacular at a substantial range of its parameter space, but the number of metabolically essential replicator species sustainable by its diffuse group selection mechanism is always limited.
“The ecological stability and the parasite resistance of the MCRS is spectacular at a substantial range of its parameter space but the number s of metabolically essential replicator species sustainable by its simple diffuse group selection mechanism is always limited [36].”
From Ecology and Evolution in the RNA World Dynamics and Stability of Prebiotic Replicator Systems (2017) · cites this paper as [36]
Previous purely ecological MCRS models have shown that the metabolically coupled spatial replicator system is robustly coexistent even if dynamically relevant parameters of different species are fixed at quite different values.
“Previous purely ecological (i.e., non-evolving) MCRS models [36] have shown that the metabolically coupled spatial replicator system is robustly coexistent, even if the dynamically relevant parameters of the different replicator species are fixed at quite different values.”
From Ecology and Evolution in the RNA World Dynamics and Stability of Prebiotic Replicator Systems (2017) · cites this paper as [36]
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- Authors
- Könnyű, B., & Czárán, T.
- Affiliations
- Eötvös Loránd University (HU)
- Corresponding author
- Könnyű, Balázs
- Venue
- BMC Evolutionary Biology
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 204
- ISSN
- 1471-2148 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3848897
- OpenAlex
- W2019969279
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 1.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- BMC Evolutionary Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ELTE Digital Institutional Repository (EDIT) (Eötvös Loránd University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- European Commission (225167)
- Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (K100806)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Keywords
- prebiotic chemistry, RNA world, community stability, mineral surfaces, metabolite diffusion, compartmentalization, chemical evolution
- MeSH terms
- Computer Simulation, Biological Evolution, Models, Biological, RNA
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