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We have decided to discontinue the publication of preprints on our preprint server as of 1 March 2024. The publication culture within mathematics has changed so much due to the rise of repositories such as ArXiV (www.arxiv.org) that we are encouraging all institute members to make their preprints available there. An institute's repository in its previous form is, therefore, unnecessary. The preprints published to date will remain available here, but we will not add any new preprints here.

MiS Preprint
91/2002

Proto-Organism Kinetics: Evolutionary Dynamics of Lipid Aggregates with Genes and Metabolism

Steen Rasmussen, Liaohai Chen, Bärbel M. R. Stadler and Peter F. Stadler

Abstract

A synthetic proto-organism could be self-assembled by integrating a lipid proto-container with a proto-metabolic subsystem and a proto-genetic subsystem. This three-component system can use energy and nutrients either by means of redox or photo-chemical reactions, evolve its proto-genome by means of template directed replication, and ultimately die. The evolutionary dynamics of the proto-organism depends crucially on the chemical kinetics of its sub-systems and on their interplay. In this work the template replication kinetics is investigated and it is found that the product inhibition inherent in the ligation-like replication process allows for coexistence of unrelated self-replicating proto-genes in the lipid surface layer. The combined catalytic effects from the proto-genes on the metabolic production rates determine the fate of the strain proto-cell.

Received:
Oct 8, 2002
Published:
Oct 8, 2002
Keywords:
proto-organism, chemical kinetics, replication, origin of life, synthetic cell

Related publications

inJournal
2004 Repository Open Access
S. Rasmussen, Liaohai Chen, Bärbel M. R. Stadler and Peter F. Stadler

Proto-organism kinetics : evolutionary dynamics of lipid aggregates with genes and metabolism

In: Origins of life and evolution of the biosphere, 34 (2004) 1/2, pp. 171-180