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Transient compartmentalization of RNA replicators prevents extinction due to parasites
Shigeyoshi Matsumura1,2,3, Ádám Kun4,5, Michael Ryckelynck2,6
1École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris), CNRS UMR 8231, 10 Rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
Abstract:
The appearance of molecular replicators (molecules that can be copied) was probably a critical step in the origin of life. However, parasitic replicators would take over and would have prevented life from taking off unless the replicators were compartmentalized in reproducing protocells. Paradoxically, control of protocell reproduction would seem to require evolved replicators. We show here that a simpler population structure, based on cycles of transient compartmentalization (TC) and mixing of RNA replicators, is sufficient to prevent takeover by parasitic mutants. TC tends to select for ensembles of replicators that replicate at a similar rate, including a diversity of parasites that could serve as a source of opportunistic functionality. Thus, TC in natural, abiological compartments could have allowed life to take hold.
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