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Recombination in Primeval Genomes: A Step Forward but Still a Long Leap from Maintaining a Sizable Genome

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Abstract

A stubborn question in early molecular evolution is how to sustain the “minimum” informational length required for the basic features of life with a putative low-copying fidelity RNA polymerase ribozyme. Proposals to circumvent the information crisis have primarily focused on networks of cooperative molecules or compartmentalization of noncooperative unlinked templates, but success has been very limited so far. Lehman (2003) has recently suggested that recombination—a frequently ignored player in early evolution—could have been crucial to building up primeval genomes of sizable length. Here we investigate this claim by assuming (without loss of generality) that genes were already enclosed in a compartment (vesicle, protocell). The numerical results show a quite intricate interplay among mutation, recombination, and gene redundancy. Provided that the minimum number of gene copies per protocell was enough for recombination to recreate wild-type templates—but not too high to impose an unbearable burden of mutants—informational content could have increased by at least 25% by keeping the same mutational load as that for a population without recombination. However, the upper bound of informational length would still be far from the “minimal life” provisions.

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks go to J. F. Fontanari for insightful discussions during the preparation of the manuscript. The paper greatly benefited from the critical comments and suggestions of the Associate Editor and two anonymous referees. M.S. is supported by a fellowship (PR2003-0431) from the Programa Nacional de Ayudas para la Movilidad de Profesores de Universidad, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Spain), and by Fundación Ramón Areces (Spain). E.Sz. is supported by the Hungarian Scientific Research Found (OTKA). The sponsorship of COST-European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, Internal Project D27/0003/02, “Emergence and Selection of Networks of Catalytic Species” (http://cost.cordis.lu/src/extranet/publish/D27WGP/d27-0003-02.cfm), is very much appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collegium Budapest, Institute for Advanced Study, Szentháromság u. 2, Budapest, H-1014, Hungary

    Mauro Santos, Elias Zintzaras & Eörs Szathmáry

  2. Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Grup de Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, 08193, Spain

    Mauro Santos

  3. Department of Biomathematics, School of Medicine, University of Thessalia, Papakyriazy 22, Larissa, 41222, Greece

    Elias Zintzaras

  4. Department of Plant Taxonomy and Ecology, Eötvös University, 2 Ludovika tér, Budapest, H-1083, Hungary

    Eörs Szathmáry

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  1. Mauro Santos
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Correspondence to Mauro Santos.

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[Reviewing Editor: Dr. Niles Lehman]

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Santos, M., Zintzaras, E. & Szathmáry, E. Recombination in Primeval Genomes: A Step Forward but Still a Long Leap from Maintaining a Sizable Genome. J Mol Evol 59, 507–519 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00239-004-2642-7

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