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Generic Darwinian selection in catalytic protocell assemblies.

Andreea Munteanu1, Camille Stephan-Otto Attolini, Steen Rasmussen

  • 1ICREA-Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Dr Aiguader 80, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. andreea.munteanu@upf.edu

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
|May 19, 2007
PubMed
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Protocell models demonstrate that coupling metabolism and genetic replication leads to exponential growth, enabling Darwinian evolution. This finding is crucial for understanding the origins of life and developing artificial life forms.

Area of Science:

  • Origin of Life Studies
  • Systems Chemistry
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Minimal life requires information carrying molecules capable of resource conversion, environmental adaptation, and variable fitness for evolution.
  • Protocells necessitate strong coupling between metabolism and genetics, facilitated by a container.
  • The natural selection mechanisms for prebiotic protocell complex systems remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the assembly and evolution of protocells in a laboratory setting.
  • To analyze minimal protocell models with increasing complexity, focusing on the interplay between genetic templates, containers, and metabolism.
  • To determine the growth dynamics and evolutionary potential of these protocell systems.

Main Methods:

  • Studied three distinct minimal protocell models with varying complexity.

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  • Incorporated a 'genetic template', a container, and a simplified metabolism in each model.
  • Analyzed the local growth laws associated with template self-replication and overall system dynamics.

    • Main Results:

    • All protocell models exhibited exponential growth in their components, irrespective of replication efficiency.
    • This exponential growth resulted from coordinated catalytic growth across subsystems.
    • The observed growth pattern is independent of the specific local growth law for template self-replication.

    Conclusions:

    • Protocell assemblies achieve exponential growth through coupled catalytic processes, mimicking autocatalysis.
    • This exponential growth is a prerequisite for Darwinian selection in competitive environments.
    • The findings suggest protocell systems are effective frameworks for studying and potentially achieving Darwinian evolution in artificial systems.