Conditions Enabling the Persistence of Cooperating Synthetase, Ligase, and Mutation-Inhibitor Catalytic Polymers

Area of Science:

• Origins of Life Research
• Computational Biology
• Biochemistry

Background:

• A central challenge in origins-of-life research is explaining the emergence of long polymers necessary for genetic inheritance.
• Multilevel selection in prebiotic environments may favor cooperating polymers, enabling complex functions from simpler ones.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a scalable computational model for cooperative catalytic and replicating polymer systems.
• To investigate the emergence of mutation inhibition in early polymer systems.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel computational model that avoids tracking all polymer sequences, allowing for analysis without an arbitrary length limit.
• Validated the model by replicating previous findings on synthetase-ligase systems and multilevel selection factors.

Main Results:

• Confirmed that shorter polymer length and higher catalytic efficiency, along with compartmentalization and slower diffusion, promote cooperative synthetase-ligase system persistence.
• Demonstrated that mutation inhibition can emerge from distinct, specialized catalysts rather than a single proofreading polymerase.

Conclusions:

• The computational model provides a scalable approach to studying early polymer evolution.
• Mutation inhibition may have originated through the evolution of multiple, simple catalytic functions, offering an alternative to the emergence of complex proofreading polymerases.