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dc.contributor.authorOhtsuki, Hisashi
dc.contributor.authorNowak, Martin A.
dc.date.accessioned2010-04-05T20:47:01Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.identifier.citationOhtsuki Hisashi, Martin A. Nowak. 2009. Prelife catalysts and replicators. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276(1674): 3783-3790en_US
dc.identifier.issn0962-8452en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3804485
dc.description.abstractLife is based on replication and evolution. But replication cannot be taken for granted. We must ask what there was prior to replication and evolution. How does evolution begin? We have proposed prelife as a generative system that produces information and diversity in the absence of replication. We model prelife as a binary soup of active monomers that form random polymers. ‘Prevolutionary’ dynamics can have mutation and selection prior to replication. Some sequences might have catalytic activity, thereby enhancing the rates of certain prelife reactions. We study the selection criteria for these prelife catalysts. Their catalytic efficiency must be above certain critical values. We find a maintenance threshold and an initiation threshold. The former is a linear function of sequence length, and the latter is an exponential function of sequence length. Therefore, it is extremely hard to select for prelife catalysts that have long sequences. We compare prelife catalysis with a simple model for replication. Assuming fast template-based elongation reactions, we can show that replicators have selection thresholds that are independent of their sequence length. Our calculation demonstrates the efficiency of replication and provides an explanation of why replication was selected over other forms of prelife catalysis.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipMathematicsen_US
dc.description.sponsorshipOrganismic and Evolutionary Biologyen_US
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherRoyal Society, Theen_US
dc.relation.isversionofdoi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1136en_US
dash.licenseOAP
dc.subjectevolutionary dynamicsen_US
dc.subjectorigin of lifeen_US
dc.subjectevolutionen_US
dc.subjectselection thresholden_US
dc.subjectmathematical biologyen_US
dc.titlePrelife Catalysts and Replicatorsen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.description.versionAccepted Manuscripten_US
dc.relation.journalProceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciencesen_US
dash.depositing.authorNowak, Martin A.
dc.date.available2010-04-05T20:47:01Z
dc.identifier.doi10.1098/rspb.2009.1136*
dash.contributor.affiliatedNowak, Martin


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