What it is
Autocatalytic chemical networks, in which molecules facilitate the formation of more of the same molecules, have long been proposed as simpler candidates for the first heredity, before the complex molecules that store genetic information today. The authors show that two mutually interacting autocatalytic networks can form alternative stable chemical states, maintained by weak cross-catalysis and switched by environmental change when enclosed in reproducing compartments. Rare compartments dominated by the previously unfavored autocatalyst arise through stochastic partitioning at division and are then amplified by selection in a changed environment, an analog of genetic adaptation before template-based replication.
Why it matters
It had remained unclear how such chemical systems could show stable, selectable variation rather than mere short-term adjustment to changing conditions. The results suggest that primitive inheritance could have been attractor-based, collective and chemical rather than sequence-based from the outset, which would extend evolutionary reasoning to a pregenetic stage of life's origin.
Every metric behind this entry is listed, with its source, under Sources and data below.
Filed underOrigins and Evolution of Life, Evolution and Genetic Dynamics, Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation