Origin and diversification of a metabolic cycle in oligomer world

TL;DR

This paper presents a computational model based on the oligomer-world hypothesis to explore how primitive metabolic cycles originated and diversified, shedding light on early life's evolution before genetic coding.

Contribution

It introduces a novel abstract model using shape space for molecular recognition, demonstrating the origin and diversification of metabolic cycles through computer simulation.

Findings

Metabolic cycles can originate and diversify in the oligomer world.

Poor fidelity in oligomer replication leads to cycle diversification.

Simulation supports the plausibility of early metabolic evolution.

Abstract

Based on the oligomer-world hypothesis we propose an abstract model where the molecular recognition among oligomers is described in the shape space. The origin of life in the oligomer world is regarded as the establishment of a metabolic cycle in a primitive cell. The cycle is sustained by the molecular recognition. If an original cell acquires the ability of the replication of oligomers, the relationship among oligomers changes due to the poor fidelity of the replication. This change leads to the diversification of metabolic cycles. The selection among diverse cycles is the basis of the evolution. The evolvability is one of the essential characters of life. We demonstrate the origin and diversification of the metabolic cycle by the computer simulation of our model. Such a simulation is expected to be the simplified demonstration of what actually occurred in the primordial soup. Our model describes an analog era preceding the digital era based on the genetic code.