Evolution from Composome to RNA Replicase

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new theory on how RNA replicase evolved by combining replication-first and metabolism-first models of life's origin.

Contribution

It integrates the replication-first and metabolism-first hypotheses using the GARD model and oligonucleotide assemblies.

Findings

The replication-first model has not achieved a true breakthrough in RNA replicase development.

Metabolism-first models lack an explanation for the transition to RNA replication.

The integrated scheme offers insights into the evolution from chemical to biological processes.

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel scheme for the origin of RNA replicase based on the replication-first stable complex evolution (SCE) model, also known as the stable complex encoding (SCE) model, and attempts to derive this scheme from the metabolism-first graded autocatalysis replication domain (GARD) model, thereby theoretically integrating the two hypotheses of the origin of life: replication-first and metabolism-first. Currently, although the replication-first model has made some progress in the artificial selection of RNA replicase, it has yet to achieve a true breakthrough. Meanwhile, metabolism-first models such as the CAS (Collectively Autocatalytic Set) and its graph version RAF (Reflexively Autocatalytic and Food-generated) models, have conducted in-depth research into the origin of metabolic networks but have failed to address the critical transformation issue from metabolism to RNA replication. This paper argues that these two hypotheses should mutually support each other. By introducing oligonucleotide assemblies and expanding the concept of composomes in the GARD model, this paper attempts to understand the general evolutionary mechanism of enzymes, thereby addressing the long-standing neglect of enzymatic catalysis in metabolism-first theories. This integrated scheme not only provides new theoretical support for the evolution of RNA replicase but also offers important insights into solving the key transition problem from chemical evolution to biological evolution.

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