title: Selection advantage of metabolic over non-metabolic replicators: a kinetic analysis.
abstract: A kinetic analysis and simulation of the replication reactions of two competing replicators-one non-metabolic (thermodynamic), the other metabolic, are presented. Our analysis indicates that in a rich resource environment the non-metabolic replicator is likely to be kinetically selected for over the metabolic replicator. However, in the more typical resource-poor environment it will be the metabolic replicator that is the kinetically more stable entity, and the one that will be kinetically selected for. Accordingly, a causal relationship between the emergence of a simple replicator and the emergence of a metabolic system is indicated. The results lend further support for the "replication first" school of thought in the origin of life problem by providing a mechanistic basis for the emergence of a metabolism, once a simple non-metabolic replicating system has itself been established. The study reaffirms our view that the roots of Darwinian theory may be found within standard chemical kinetic theory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Nathaniel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Addy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pross
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tannenbaum
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004261:DNA Replication; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D007700:Kinetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation; D000069497:Origin of Life; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D013816:Thermodynamics