A computer-glimpse of the origin of life.
Evolution is assumed to begin in a very particular compartmentalized location with periodic conditions. A highly diversified world is the driving force for the continuous increase in complexity by colonizing increasingly less favourable regions. Modeling the "origin-of-life" a Darwinian cyclic process is simulated (multiplication with sporadic errors followed by a construction and selection).Starting from a RNA-world (R-strands of R(1) and R(2) monomers building Hairpin-Assembler devices) and introducing another kind of monomers (A(1) and A(2) which interlink to the Hairpin-Assembler devices such that they become bound and form an A-oligomer) it is shown that a simple translation apparatus evolves producing enzymes (specific sequences of A(1) and A(2) monomers given by the sequences of R(1) and R(2) monomers on the assembler-strands). Later on D-strands are introduced, which are not capable of participating in the synthesis of A-oligomers. These D-strands become carriers of the genetic information and induce the formation of increasingly complex entities of functionally interplaying components.
Institute für Molekularbiologie und Biophysik, Gruppe Biophysik, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
Christoph
C
Kuhn
DNA-RNA-protein world; RNA world; RNA-protein world; assembler; assembler-hairpin-enzyme device; computer simulation; emergence and storage of information; evolution; fundamental conditions; genetic apparatus; genetic code; hairpin; origin of life; self organisation