title: Is there an optimal level of open-endedness in prebiotic evolution?
abstract: In this paper we explore the question of whether there is an optimal set up for a putative prebiotic system leading to open-ended evolution (OEE) of the events unfolding within this system. We do so by proposing two key innovations. First, we introduce a new index that measures OEE as a function of the likelihood of events unfolding within a universe given its initial conditions. Next, we apply this index to a variant of the graded autocatalysis replication domain (GARD) model, Segre et al. (P Natl Acad Sci USA 97(8):4112-4117, 2000; Markovitch and Lancet Artif Life 18(3), 2012), and use it to study--under a unified and concise prebiotic evolutionary framework--both a variety of initial conditions of the universe and the OEE of species that evolve from them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Omermar@Weizmann.ac.il
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Markovitch
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sorek
authors.forename: Leong Ting
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.forename: Doron
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lancet
authors.forename: Natalio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Krasnogor
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D056692:Prebiotics
chemical_list: D056692:Prebiotics