The Origin of Life: Chemical Evolution of a Metabolic System in a Mineral Honeycomb?

Branciamore, Sergio; Gallori, Enzo; Szathmáry, Eörs; Czárán, Tamás

doi:10.1007/s00239-009-9278-6

Cited by 52 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…In other words, these altruists can "scratch their own back" (they pay a relative cost). This form of population structure is regarded recently by many as the first to ensure genomic coexistence in the early days of evolution; localization of the genes could have happened either on mineral surfaces (42,43) or the holes in porous rocks (44). It is known that weak altruists do not require kin selection to spread whereas strong altruists need assortative grouping (45): imagine, in contrast to Michod's case, a self-replicating RNA replicase challenged by its own parasitic copies.…”

Section: Origins Of Life: Three Early Phases Of Transitions To Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward major evolutionary transitions theory 2.0

Szathmáry

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The impressive body of work on the major evolutionary transitions in the last 20 y calls for a reconstruction of the theory although a 2D account (evolution of informational systems and transitions in individuality) remains. Significant advances include the concept of fraternal and egalitarian transitions (lower-level units like and unlike, respectively). Multilevel selection, first without, then with, the collectives in focus is an important explanatory mechanism. Transitions are decomposed into phases of origin, maintenance, and transformation (i.e., further evolution) of the higher level units, which helps reduce the number of transitions in the revised list by two so that it is less top-heavy. After the transition, units show strong cooperation and very limited realized conflict. The origins of cells, the emergence of the genetic code and translation, the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, multicellularity, and the origin of human groups with language are reconsidered in some detail in the light of new data and considerations. Arguments are given why sex is not in the revised list as a separate transition. Some of the transitions can be recursive (e.g., plastids, multicellularity) or limited (transitions that share the usual features of major transitions without a massive phylogenetic impact, such as the microand macronuclei in ciliates). During transitions, new units of reproduction emerge, and establishment of such units requires high fidelity of reproduction (as opposed to mere replication).egalitarian transitions | fraternal transitions | multilevel selection | aggregative unit formation | recursive transitions T he book The Major Transitions in Evolution was published 20 y ago (1) and popularized 16 y ago (2). The impressive work accomplished by the interested community has made time ripe for a resynthesis of the field. In this paper, I outline the revised theory for transitions research while noting that the full account can be taken only in a new book. First, I present the key points of the theory, followed by an impressionist overview of some of the transitions, highlighting (without being all-inclusive) some of the most exciting findings pertinent to the major transitions in a revised list. In doing so, I rebuild some of the foundations of the theory. A scholarly account of all relevant contributions is beyond the scope of the present paper. For lack of space, I deliberately omit discussion on the origin of animal societies (3), except humans.

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Section: Origins Of Life: Three Early Phases Of Transitions To Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward major evolutionary transitions theory 2.0

Szathmáry

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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324

343

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“…This diffusion limitation is a prerequisite for Darwinian evolution 6 , because it averts dissipation of the replicase genotype by fruitless replication of unrelated (and most likely inactive) RNA sequences, and curbs the rise of fastreplicating RNA parasites 7 . Although a range of structured environments, including micelles, membraneous vesicles, porous rocks or even aerosol droplets [8][9][10][11][12] , have been proposed as protocellular media capable of providing compartmentalization, their ability to support RNA replication and protect RNA from degradation is unclear.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Although protocellular compartmentalization can take many forms 11 , it is often considered that RNA self-replication originated within membraneous protocellular vesicles in an ambient, aqueous environment 9,46 . Here, we demonstrate that neither RNA replication nor compartmentalization is necessarily confined to the solution phase, or indeed to ambient temperatures, but that both are provided within the aqueous eutectic phase of water ice at subzero temperatures.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ice as a protocellular medium for RNA replication

et al. 2010

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A crucial transition in the origin of life was the emergence of an informational polymer capable of self-replication and its compartmentalization within protocellular structures. We show that the physicochemical properties of ice, a simple medium widespread on a temperate early Earth, could have mediated this transition prior to the advent of membraneous protocells. Ice not only promotes the activity of an RNA polymerase ribozyme but also protects it from hydrolytic degradation, enabling the synthesis of exceptionally long replication products. Ice furthermore relieves the dependence of RNA replication on prebiotically implausible substrate concentrations, while providing quasicellular compartmentalization within the intricate microstructure of the eutectic phase. Eutectic ice phases had previously been shown to promote the de novo synthesis of nucleotide precursors, as well as the condensation of activated nucleotides into random RNA oligomers. Our results support a wider role for ice as a predisposed environment, promoting all the steps from prebiotic synthesis to the emergence of RNA self-replication and precellular Darwinian evolution.

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“…The reason is simply because natural selection acting exclusively on individual replicators fosters the evolution of molecular parasites that are better targets for replication but do not (see Scheuring, 2000;Szabó et al, 2002;Takeuchi andHogeweg, 2007, 2009;Branciamore et al, 2009), as already illustrated by the classical studies of in vitro evolution of RNA molecules carried out by Spiegelman and his colleagues (Mills et al, 1967;Spiegelman, 1971). These authors isolated and purified the more than 4,000 nucleotides-long single-stranded Q RNA that encodes a number of proteins, including Q replicase.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%