The Prebiotic Emergence Of Biological Evolution

The origin of life must have been preceded by Darwin-like evolutionary dynamics that could propagate it. How did that adaptive dynamics arise?

And from what prebiotic molecules? Using evolutionary invasion analysis, we develop a universal framework for describing any origin story for evolutionary dynamics. We find that cooperative autocatalysts, i.e. autocatalysts whose per-unit reproductive rate grows as their population increases, have the special property of being able to cross a barrier that separates their initial degradation-dominated state from a growth-dominated state with evolutionary dynamics.

For some model parameters, this leap to persistent propagation is likely, not rare. We apply this analysis to the Foldcat Mechanism, wherein peptides fold and help catalyze the elongation of each other. Foldcats are found to have cooperative autocatalysis and be capable of emergent evolutionary dynamics.

Charles D. Kocher, Ken A. Dill

Comments: 17 pages, 8 figures
Subjects: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE); Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2311.13650 [q-bio.PE] (or arXiv:2311.13650v1 [q-bio.PE] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2311.13650
Focus to learn more
Submission history
From: Charles Kocher
[v1] Wed, 22 Nov 2023 19:04:58 UTC (507 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.13650
Astrobiology