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Ameta S, Kumar M, Chakraborty N, Matsubara YJ, S P, Gandavadi D, Thutupalli S. Multispecies autocatalytic RNA reaction networks in coacervates. Commun Chem 2023; 6:91. [PMID: 37156998 PMCID: PMC10167250 DOI: 10.1038/s42004-023-00887-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Robust localization of self-reproducing autocatalytic chemistries is a key step in the realization of heritable and evolvable chemical systems. While autocatalytic chemical reaction networks already possess attributes such as heritable self-reproduction and evolvability, localizing functional multispecies networks within complex primitive phases, such as coacervates, has remained unexplored. Here, we show the self-reproduction of the Azoarcus ribozyme system within charge-rich coacervates where catalytic ribozymes are produced by the autocatalytic assembly of constituent smaller RNA fragments. We systematically demonstrate the catalytic assembly of active ribozymes within phase-separated coacervates-both in micron-sized droplets as well as in a coalesced macrophase, underscoring the facility of the complex, charge-rich phase to support these reactions in multiple configurations. By constructing multispecies reaction networks, we show that these newly assembled molecules are active, participating both in self- and cross-catalysis within the coacervates. Finally, due to differential molecular transport, these phase-separated compartments endow robustness to the composition of the collectively autocatalytic networks against external perturbations. Altogether, our results establish the formation of multispecies self-reproducing reaction networks in phase-separated compartments which in turn render transient robustness to the network composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandeep Ameta
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
- Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, Plot No. 2, Rajiv Gandhi Education City, P.O. Rai, Sonepat, Haryana, 131029, India.
| | - Manoj Kumar
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Nayan Chakraborty
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Yoshiya J Matsubara
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Prashanth S
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Dhanush Gandavadi
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
| | - Shashi Thutupalli
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
- International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
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2
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Pavlinova P, Lambert CN, Malaterre C, Nghe P. Abiogenesis through gradual evolution of autocatalysis into template-based replication. FEBS Lett 2023; 597:344-379. [PMID: 36203246 DOI: 10.1002/1873-3468.14507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
How life emerged from inanimate matter is one of the most intriguing questions posed to modern science. Central to this research are experimental attempts to build systems capable of Darwinian evolution. RNA catalysts (ribozymes) are a promising avenue, in line with the RNA world hypothesis whereby RNA pre-dated DNA and proteins. Since evolution in living organisms relies on template-based replication, the identification of a ribozyme capable of replicating itself (an RNA self-replicase) has been a major objective. However, no self-replicase has been identified to date. Alternatively, autocatalytic systems involving multiple RNA species capable of ligation and recombination may enable self-reproduction. However, it remains unclear how evolution could emerge in autocatalytic systems. In this review, we examine how experimentally feasible RNA reactions catalysed by ribozymes could implement the evolutionary properties of variation, heredity and reproduction, and ultimately allow for Darwinian evolution. We propose a gradual path for the emergence of evolution, initially supported by autocatalytic systems leading to the later appearance of RNA replicases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Polina Pavlinova
- Laboratoire de Biophysique et Evolution, UMR CNRS-ESPCI 8231 Chimie Biologie Innovation, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Camille N Lambert
- Laboratoire de Biophysique et Evolution, UMR CNRS-ESPCI 8231 Chimie Biologie Innovation, PSL University, Paris, France
| | - Christophe Malaterre
- Laboratory of Philosophy of Science (LAPS) and Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur la Science et la Technologie (CIRST), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Canada
| | - Philippe Nghe
- Laboratoire de Biophysique et Evolution, UMR CNRS-ESPCI 8231 Chimie Biologie Innovation, PSL University, Paris, France
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3
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Imai M, Sakuma Y, Kurisu M, Walde P. From vesicles toward protocells and minimal cells. SOFT MATTER 2022; 18:4823-4849. [PMID: 35722879 DOI: 10.1039/d1sm01695d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In contrast to ordinary condensed matter systems, "living systems" are unique. They are based on molecular compartments that reproduce themselves through (i) an uptake of ingredients and energy from the environment, and (ii) spatially and timely coordinated internal chemical transformations. These occur on the basis of instructions encoded in information molecules (DNAs). Life originated on Earth about 4 billion years ago as self-organised systems of inorganic compounds and organic molecules including macromolecules (e.g. nucleic acids and proteins) and low molar mass amphiphiles (lipids). Before the first living systems emerged from non-living forms of matter, functional molecules and dynamic molecular assemblies must have been formed as prebiotic soft matter systems. These hypothetical cell-like compartment systems often are called "protocells". Other systems that are considered as bridging units between non-living and living systems are called "minimal cells". They are synthetic, autonomous and sustainable reproducing compartment systems, but their constituents are not limited to prebiotic substances. In this review, we focus on both membrane-bounded (vesicular) protocells and minimal cells, and provide a membrane physics background which helps to understand how morphological transformations of vesicle systems might have happened and how vesicle reproduction might be coupled with metabolic reactions and information molecules. This research, which bridges matter and life, is a great challenge in which soft matter physics, systems chemistry, and synthetic biology must take joined efforts to better understand how the transformation of protocells into living systems might have occurred at the origin of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masayuki Imai
- Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
| | - Yuka Sakuma
- Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
| | - Minoru Kurisu
- Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, 6-3 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba, Sendai 980-8578, Japan.
| | - Peter Walde
- Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
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4
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Ameta S, Matsubara YJ, Chakraborty N, Krishna S, Thutupalli S. Self-Reproduction and Darwinian Evolution in Autocatalytic Chemical Reaction Systems. Life (Basel) 2021; 11:308. [PMID: 33916135 PMCID: PMC8066523 DOI: 10.3390/life11040308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 03/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the emergence of life from (primitive) abiotic components has arguably been one of the deepest and yet one of the most elusive scientific questions. Notwithstanding the lack of a clear definition for a living system, it is widely argued that heredity (involving self-reproduction) along with compartmentalization and metabolism are key features that contrast living systems from their non-living counterparts. A minimal living system may be viewed as "a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution". It has been proposed that autocatalytic sets of chemical reactions (ACSs) could serve as a mechanism to establish chemical compositional identity, heritable self-reproduction, and evolution in a minimal chemical system. Following years of theoretical work, autocatalytic chemical systems have been constructed experimentally using a wide variety of substrates, and most studies, thus far, have focused on the demonstration of chemical self-reproduction under specific conditions. While several recent experimental studies have raised the possibility of carrying out some aspects of experimental evolution using autocatalytic reaction networks, there remain many open challenges. In this review, we start by evaluating theoretical studies of ACSs specifically with a view to establish the conditions required for such chemical systems to exhibit self-reproduction and Darwinian evolution. Then, we follow with an extensive overview of experimental ACS systems and use the theoretically established conditions to critically evaluate these empirical systems for their potential to exhibit Darwinian evolution. We identify various technical and conceptual challenges limiting experimental progress and, finally, conclude with some remarks about open questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandeep Ameta
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Yoshiya J. Matsubara
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Nayan Chakraborty
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Sandeep Krishna
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560065, India
| | - Shashi Thutupalli
- Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560065, India
- International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore 560089, India
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Sawato T, Yamaguchi M. Synthetic Chemical Systems Involving Self‐Catalytic Reactions of Helicene Oligomer Foldamers. Chempluschem 2020; 85:2017-2038. [DOI: 10.1002/cplu.202000489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Revised: 08/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tsukasa Sawato
- Department of Organic Chemistry Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Tohoku University Aoba Sendai 980-8578 Japan
| | - Masahiko Yamaguchi
- State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals Dalian University of Technology Dalian 116024 China
- Department of Organic Chemistry Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Tohoku University Aoba Sendai 980-8578 Japan
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6
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Kahana A, Lancet D. Protobiotic Systems Chemistry Analyzed by Molecular Dynamics. Life (Basel) 2019; 9:E38. [PMID: 31083329 PMCID: PMC6617412 DOI: 10.3390/life9020038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2019] [Revised: 05/06/2019] [Accepted: 05/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Systems chemistry has been a key component of origin of life research, invoking models of life's inception based on evolving molecular networks. One such model is the graded autocatalysis replication domain (GARD) formalism embodied in a lipid world scenario, which offers rigorous computer simulation based on defined chemical kinetics equations. GARD suggests that the first pre-RNA life-like entities could have been homeostatically-growing assemblies of amphiphiles, undergoing compositional replication and mutations, as well as rudimentary selection and evolution. Recent progress in molecular dynamics has provided an experimental tool to study complex biological phenomena such as protein folding, ligand-receptor interactions, and micellar formation, growth, and fission. The detailed molecular definition of GARD and its inter-molecular catalytic interactions make it highly compatible with molecular dynamics analyses. We present a roadmap for simulating GARD's kinetic and thermodynamic behavior using various molecular dynamics methodologies. We review different approaches for testing the validity of the GARD model by following micellar accretion and fission events and examining compositional changes over time. Near-future computational advances could provide empirical delineation for further system complexification, from simple compositional non-covalent assemblies towards more life-like protocellular entities with covalent chemistry that underlies metabolism and genetic encoding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amit Kahana
- Dept. Molecular Genetics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610010, Israel.
| | - Doron Lancet
- Dept. Molecular Genetics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610010, Israel.
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7
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Affiliation(s)
- Meniz Altay
- Centre for Systems ChemistryStratingh InstituteUniversity of Groningen Nijenborgh 4 9747 AG Groningen The Netherlands
| | - Yigit Altay
- Centre for Systems ChemistryStratingh InstituteUniversity of Groningen Nijenborgh 4 9747 AG Groningen The Netherlands
| | - Sijbren Otto
- Centre for Systems ChemistryStratingh InstituteUniversity of Groningen Nijenborgh 4 9747 AG Groningen The Netherlands
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8
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Altay M, Altay Y, Otto S. Parasitic Behavior of Self-Replicating Molecules. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2018; 57:10564-10568. [PMID: 29856109 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201804706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Self-replication plays a central role in the origin of life and in strategies to synthesize life de novo. Studies on self-replication have focused mostly on isolated systems, while the dynamics of systems containing multiple replicators have received comparatively little attention. Yet most evolutionary scenarios involve the interplay between different replicators. Here we report the emergence of parasitic behavior in a system containing self-replicators derived from two subtly different building blocks 1 and 2. Replicators from 2 form readily through cross-catalysis by pre-existing replicators made from 1. Once formed, the new replicators consume the original replicators to which they owe their existence. These results resemble parasitic and predatory behavior that is normally associated with living systems and show how such lifelike behavior has its roots in relatively simple systems of self-replicating molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meniz Altay
- Centre for Systems Chemistry, Stratingh Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747, AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Yigit Altay
- Centre for Systems Chemistry, Stratingh Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747, AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sijbren Otto
- Centre for Systems Chemistry, Stratingh Institute, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 4, 9747, AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
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9
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Jayathilaka TS, Lehman N. Spontaneous Covalent Self-Assembly of the Azoarcus Ribozyme from Five Fragments. Chembiochem 2018; 19:217-220. [PMID: 29207206 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201700591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2017] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Spontaneous covalent assembly of short RNA fragments has been proposed as a plausible prebiotically relevant pathway to a self-reproducing system. We previously showed that the Azoarcus group I intron could self-assemble from four RNA fragments. Here, we extended this fragmentation to five RNAs that averaged <40 nucleotides in length. We optimized this reaction and showed that a dehydration-rehydration sequence was the most effective means to date to shift the self-assembly equilibrium from reactants to products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tharuka S Jayathilaka
- Department of Chemistry, Portland State University, P. O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207, USA
| | - Niles Lehman
- Department of Chemistry, Portland State University, P. O. Box 751, Portland, OR, 97207, USA
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10
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Sousa FL, Hordijk W, Steel M, Martin WF. Autocatalytic sets in E. coli metabolism. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 6:4. [PMID: 25995773 PMCID: PMC4429071 DOI: 10.1186/s13322-015-0009-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2014] [Accepted: 11/27/2014] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Background A central unsolved problem in early evolution concerns self-organization towards higher complexity in chemical reaction networks. In theory, autocatalytic sets have useful properties to help model such transitions. Autocatalytic sets are chemical reaction systems in which molecules belonging to the set catalyze the synthesis of other members of the set. Given an external supply of starting molecules – the food set – and the conditions that (i) all reactions are catalyzed by at least one molecule, and (ii) each molecule can be constructed from the food set by a sequence of reactions, the system becomes a reflexively autocatalytic food-generated network (RAF set). Autocatalytic networks and RAFs have been studied extensively as mathematical models for understanding the properties and parameters that influence self-organizational tendencies. However, despite their appeal, the relevance of RAFs for real biochemical networks that exist in nature has, so far, remained virtually unexplored. Results Here we investigate the best-studied metabolic network, that of Escherichia coli, for the existence of RAFs. We find that the largest RAF encompasses almost the entire E. coli cytosolic reaction network. We systematically study its structure by considering the impact of removing catalysts or reactions. We show that, without biological knowledge, finding the minimum food set that maintains a given RAF is NP-complete. We apply a randomized algorithm to find (approximately) smallest subsets of the food set that suffice to sustain the original RAF. Conclusions The existence of RAF sets within a microbial metabolic network indicates that RAFs capture properties germane to biological organization at the level of single cells. Moreover, the interdependency between the different metabolic modules, especially concerning cofactor biosynthesis, points to the important role of spontaneous (non-enzymatic) reactions in the context of early evolution. E. coli metabolic network in the context of autocatalytic sets. ![]()
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13322-015-0009-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa L Sousa
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich Heine Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | | | - Mike Steel
- Allan Wilson Centre Molecular Ecology and Evolution, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - William F Martin
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich Heine Universität, Düsseldorf, Germany
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11
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Steel M, Hordijk W, Smith J. Minimal autocatalytic networks. J Theor Biol 2013; 332:96-107. [PMID: 23648185 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2013.04.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2012] [Revised: 04/04/2013] [Accepted: 04/26/2013] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Self-sustaining autocatalytic chemical networks represent a necessary, though not sufficient condition for the emergence of early living systems. These networks have been formalised and investigated within the framework of RAF theory, which has led to a number of insights and results concerning the likelihood of such networks forming. In this paper, we extend this analysis by focussing on how small autocatalytic networks are likely to be when they first emerge. First we show that simulations are unlikely to settle this question, by establishing that the problem of finding a smallest RAF within a catalytic reaction system is NP-hard. However, irreducible RAFs (irrRAFs) can be constructed in polynomial time, and we show it is possible to determine in polynomial time whether a bounded size set of these irrRAFs contain the smallest RAFs within a system. Moreover, we derive rigorous bounds on the sizes of small RAFs and use simulations to sample irrRAFs under the binary polymer model. We then apply mathematical arguments to prove a new result suggested by those simulations: at the transition catalysis level at which RAFs first form in this model, small RAFs are unlikely to be present. We also investigate further the relationship between RAFs and another formal approach to self-sustaining and closed chemical networks, namely chemical organisation theory (COT).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mike Steel
- Biomathematics Research Centre, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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Hordijk W, Steel M. A formal model of autocatalytic sets emerging in an RNA replicator system. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013. [DOI: 10.1186/1759-2208-4-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Hordijk W, Steel M, Kauffman S. The structure of autocatalytic sets: evolvability, enablement, and emergence. Acta Biotheor 2012; 60:379-92. [PMID: 23053465 DOI: 10.1007/s10441-012-9165-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2012] [Accepted: 09/15/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This paper presents new results from a detailed study of the structure of autocatalytic sets. We show how autocatalytic sets can be decomposed into smaller autocatalytic subsets, and how these subsets can be identified and classified. We then argue how this has important consequences for the evolvability, enablement, and emergence of autocatalytic sets. We end with some speculation on how all this might lead to a generalized theory of autocatalytic sets, which could possibly be applied to entire ecologies or even economies.
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14
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Hordijk W, Steel M. Autocatalytic sets extended: Dynamics, inhibition, and a generalization. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012. [DOI: 10.1186/1759-2208-3-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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15
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Eschenmoser A. Ätiologie potentiell primordialer Biomolekül-Strukturen: Vom Vitamin B12 zu den Nukleinsäuren und der Frage nach der Chemie der Entstehung des Lebens - ein Rückblick. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2011. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.201103672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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16
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Eschenmoser A. Etiology of potentially primordial biomolecular structures: from vitamin B12 to the nucleic acids and an inquiry into the chemistry of life's origin: a retrospective. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2011; 50:12412-72. [PMID: 22162284 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201103672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2011] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
"We'll never be able to know" is a truism that leads to resignation with respect to any experimental effort to search for the chemistry of life's origin. But such resignation runs radically counter to the challenge imposed upon chemistry as a natural science. Notwithstanding the prognosis according to which the shortest path to understanding the metamorphosis of the chemical into the biological is by way of experimental modeling of "artificial chemical life", the scientific search for the route nature adopted in creating the life we know will arguably never truly end. It is, after all, part of the search for our own origin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Albert Eschenmoser
- Organisch-chemisches Laboratorium der ETH Zürich, Hönggerberg, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 10, CHI H309, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
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17
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Lehman N, Hayden EJ. Template-directed RNA polymerization: the taming of the milieu. Chembiochem 2011; 12:2727-8. [PMID: 22028272 DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201100611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2011] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
No-bias binding: The abiotic template-directed synthesis of RNA could have been a key process in the origins of life on Earth. Recreating this process in the laboratory has been challenging, yet a combination of strategies has given rise to a synthesis that is both efficient and unbiased against any of the four nucleotides.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niles Lehman
- Department of Chemistry, Portland State University, P. O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207, USA.
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18
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Hordijk W, Kauffman SA, Steel M. Required levels of catalysis for emergence of autocatalytic sets in models of chemical reaction systems. Int J Mol Sci 2011; 12:3085-101. [PMID: 21686171 PMCID: PMC3116177 DOI: 10.3390/ijms12053085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2011] [Revised: 04/18/2011] [Accepted: 05/05/2011] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The formation of a self-sustaining autocatalytic chemical network is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the origin of life. The question of whether such a network could form "by chance" within a sufficiently complex suite of molecules and reactions is one that we have investigated for a simple chemical reaction model based on polymer ligation and cleavage. In this paper, we extend this work in several further directions. In particular, we investigate in more detail the levels of catalysis required for a self-sustaining autocatalytic network to form. We study the size of chemical networks within which we might expect to find such an autocatalytic subset, and we extend the theoretical and computational analyses to models in which catalysis requires template matching.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wim Hordijk
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: ; Tel.: +41-21-692-4268
| | - Stuart A. Kauffman
- Tampere University of Technology, Finland; E-Mail:
- University of Vermont, 85 South Prospect Street Burlington, VT 05405, USA
- Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
| | - Mike Steel
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand; E-Mail:
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20
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von Kiedrowski G. Systems chemistry: from chemical self-replication to trisoligo-based nanoconstruction. J Cheminform 2010. [PMCID: PMC2867117 DOI: 10.1186/1758-2946-2-s1-o1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
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Caraballo R, Dong H, Ribeiro JP, Jiménez-Barbero J, Ramström O. Direct STD NMR identification of beta-galactosidase inhibitors from a virtual dynamic hemithioacetal system. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2010; 49:589-93. [PMID: 20013972 DOI: 10.1002/anie.200903920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Rémi Caraballo
- Department of Chemistry, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 30, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden
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22
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Caraballo RÃ, Dong H, Ribeiro J, Jiménez-Barbero J, Ramström O. Direct STDâ
NMR Identification of β-Galactosidase Inhibitors from a Virtual Dynamic Hemithioacetal System. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2010. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.200903920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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