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Spatial Models of Prebiotic Evolution: Soup Before Pizza?

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Abstract

The problem of information integration andresistance to the invasion of parasitic mutants in prebiotic replicator systemsis a notorious issue of research on the origin of life.Almost all theoretical studies published so far havedemonstrated that some kind of spatial structure is indispensable forthe persistence and/or the parasite resistance of any feasible replicator system.Based on a detailed critical survey of spatial models on prebiotic informationintegration, we suggest a possible scenario for replicator system evolution leadingto the emergence of the first protocells capable of independent life.We show that even the spatial versions of the hypercycle model are vulnerable toselfish parasites in heterogeneous habitats. Contrary, the metabolic system remainspersistent and coexistent with its parasites both on heterogeneous surfaces andin chaotically mixing flowing media. Persistent metabolic parasites can beconverted to metabolic cooperators, or they can gradually obtain replicase activity.Our simulations show that, once replicase activity emerged, a gradual and simultaneousevolutionary improvement of replicase functionality (speed and fidelity) andtemplate efficiency is possible only on a surface that constrains the mobility ofmacromolecule replicators. Based on the results of the models reviewed, we suggestthat open chaotic flows (`soup') and surface dynamics (`pizza') both played keyroles in the sequence of evolutionary events ultimately concluding in theappearance of the first living cell on Earth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Taxonomy and Ecology, Research Group of Ecology and Theoretical Biology, Eötvös University, Pázmány P. sétány 1/c, H-1117, Budapest, Hungary

    István Scheuring & Tamás Czárán

  2. Adaptive Dynamics Network, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, A-2361, Laxenburg, Austria

    Péter Szabó

  3. Program in Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, 617 N Santa Rita, 85721, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    György Károlyi

  4. Department of Structural Mechanics and Center for Applied Mathematics and Computational Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Müegyetem rkp. 3, H-1521, Budapest, Hungary

    György Károlyi

  5. Complex Systems Group, Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Zoltán Toroczkai

Authors
  1. István Scheuring
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  2. Tamás Czárán
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  3. Péter Szabó
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  4. György Károlyi
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  5. Zoltán Toroczkai
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Correspondence to Tamás Czárán.

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Scheuring, I., Czárán, T., Szabó, P. et al. Spatial Models of Prebiotic Evolution: Soup Before Pizza?. Orig Life Evol Biosph 33, 319–355 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025742505324

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