Analysis of competition between transformation pathways in the functioning of biotic abstract dual automata

Properties of avenues of transformation and their mutualism with forms of organization in dynamic systems are essential for understanding the evolution of prebiotic order. We have analyzed competition between two avenues of transformation in an A↔B system, using the simulation approach called BiADA (Biotic Abstract Dual Automata). We discuss means of avoiding common pitfalls of abstract system modeling and benefits of BiADA-based simulations. We describe the effect of the availability of free energy, energy sink magnitude, and autocatalysis on the evolution of energy flux and order in the system. Results indicate that prebiotic competition between avenues of transformation was more stringent in energy-limited environments. We predict that in such conditions the efficiency of autocatalysis during competition between alternative system states will increase for systems with forms of organization having short half-lives and thus information that is time-sensitive to energy starvation. Our results also offer a potential solution to Manfred Eigen's error catastrophe dilemma. In the conditions discussed above, the exponential growth of quasi species is curbed through the removal of less competitive "genetic" variants via energy starvation. We propose that one of the most important achievements (and selective edges) of a dynamic network during competition in energy-limited or energy-variable environments was the capacity to correlate the internal energy flux and the need for free energy with the availability of free energy in the environment.