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Area of Science:

  • Origin of Life Studies
  • Systems Chemistry
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Early Earth likely hosted diverse protocell populations due to spontaneous self-assembly.
  • Understanding interactions between these distinct protocells is crucial for discerning emergent properties at a systems level.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate emergent properties arising from interactions between physicochemically distinct protocell populations.
  • To explore potential evolutionary trajectories of protocell membranes in a prebiotic context.

Main Methods:

  • Simulated interactions between two and three candidate protocell populations with varied physicochemical properties.
  • Analyzed membrane robustness and molecular crowding as emergent properties.

Main Results:

  • In a two-species system, a 'predator' protocell population with a more robust membrane outcompeted a 'prey' population.
  • The 'prey' population gained molecular crowding, enabling coexistence without complete extinction.
  • Extrapolation to a three-species system yielded multipronged outcomes, highlighting complex synergistic effects.

Conclusions:

  • Interactions between protocell populations can lead to emergent properties and chemical evolution of membranes.
  • Synergistic effects in coexisting protocell populations offer a plausible route for the evolution of functionally complex protocells, even without protein machinery.
  • These findings shed light on potential evolutionary pathways in the origin of life.