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Natural selection in chemical evolution.

Chrisantha Fernando1, Jonathan Rowe

  • 1School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. c.t.fernando@cs.bham.ac.uk

Journal of Theoretical Biology
|April 3, 2007
PubMed
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Chemical evolution can occur via natural selection through self-replicating liposomes, even without genetic material. This process involves molecular autocatalysts and energy flux, challenging prior self-organization hypotheses.

Area of Science:

  • Origin of Life Studies
  • Artificial Chemistry
  • Systems Biology

Background:

  • Previous hypotheses on chemical evolution focused on self-organization principles.
  • The role of natural selection in early chemical evolution, particularly in the absence of genetic material, remains debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose and model a mechanism for chemical evolution driven by natural selection.
  • To investigate the potential for liposome-based systems to evolve in the absence of nucleotides.
  • To challenge existing self-organization theories in favor of a selection-based model.

Main Methods:

  • Modeling chemical evolution using a hill-climbing algorithm.
  • Developing an artificial chemistry with conserved mass and energy in an open thermodynamic system.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Simulating liposome growth, division, and adaptation through stochastic chemical avalanches.

    • Main Results:

    • Liposome-level selection stabilizes molecular autocatalysts, leading to conserved intermediary metabolism.
    • Increased energy flux supports both liposome growth and the maintenance of chemical memory.
    • The loss of competing autocatalysts can be an adaptive evolutionary strategy.

    Conclusions:

    • Natural selection, acting on heterotrophic liposomes, provides a viable pathway for chemical evolution.
    • This model offers an alternative to self-organization principles, highlighting the sufficiency of natural selection.
    • Finite population modeling indicates practical constraints for achieving laboratory-based chemical evolution.