Thresholds in Origin of Life Scenarios

Jeancolas, Cyrille; Malaterre, Christophe; Nghe, Philippe

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.101756

Cited by 20 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 108 publications

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“…In the context of the origin of life theory, the transition towards the living state has indeed often been interpreted in terms of critical phenomena [10,16,106,107], while the concept of catalytic closure in autocatalytic sets [11,42] is rooted in that of critical transitions observed in random graph theory [108]. Specifically, in the prebiotic context, many other examples of thresholds have furthermore been suggested [96] such as that of spontaneous polymerization [109] or self-assembly of compartments [110]. In addition to the behavior expected at the error threshold for high values of the error rate µ included in our model, the results we have presented here clearly imply the presence of such a transition driven by an increase of the mutation rate past a critical value (c.f.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Equation (A3) of the Appendix A). Mutation rates µ ∈ 10 −4 , 1 were sampled, which correspond to a few mutations per simulation up to some critical value typical of an error catastrophe [68]-a characteristic of replicating systems that has been compared to phase transition phenomena in statistical physics with replication error rate acting as the order parameter [91][92][93][94][95][96]. The presence of an error catastrophe is indeed predicted by the quasispecies theory: above the error threshold value, replication errors lead to populations being submerged by unfit individuals that decrease the overall fitness until the species goes extinct [68].…”

Section: Simulation Design and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Mutation Threshold for Cooperative Takeover

Champagne-Ruel

Charbonneau

2022

Life

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One of the leading theories for the origin of life includes the hypothesis according to which life would have evolved as cooperative networks of molecules. Explaining cooperation—and particularly, its emergence in favoring the evolution of life-bearing molecules—is thus a key element in describing the transition from nonlife to life. Using agent-based modeling of the iterated prisoner’s dilemma, we investigate the emergence of cooperative behavior in a stochastic and spatially extended setting and characterize the effects of inheritance and variability. We demonstrate that there is a mutation threshold above which cooperation is—counterintuitively—selected, which drives a dramatic and robust cooperative takeover of the whole system sustained consistently up to the error catastrophe, in a manner reminiscent of typical phase transition phenomena in statistical physics. Moreover, our results also imply that one of the simplest conditional cooperative strategies, “Tit-for-Tat”, plays a key role in the emergence of cooperative behavior required for the origin of life.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Simulation Design and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mutation Threshold for Cooperative Takeover

Champagne-Ruel

Charbonneau

2022

Life

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“…Strikingly, the challenge is also conceptual, to the point that it appears difficult to even imagine theoretical systems that would radically differ from the biological paradigm of self-replicating nucleic acids and could yet be considered as evolvable by natural selection [22][23][24]. Addressing this challenge may require shifting away from a categorical to a continuous perspective, as previously advocated in the context of the origin of "lifeness" [25][26][27][28][29]: asking, not if these systems are evolvable through natural selection, but to what extent they are, on a quantitative scale that remains to be formalised in cross-disciplinary terms. In the next section, we discuss whether the physical approach to far-from-equilibrium systems may take us closer to that objective.…”

Section: Natural Selection In Protobiotic Systems?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Selection beyond Life? A Workshop Report

Charlat

Ariew

Bourrat

et al. 2021

Life

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Natural selection is commonly seen not just as an explanation for adaptive evolution, but as the inevitable consequence of “heritable variation in fitness among individuals”. Although it remains embedded in biological concepts, such a formalisation makes it tempting to explore whether this precondition may be met not only in life as we know it, but also in other physical systems. This would imply that these systems are subject to natural selection and may perhaps be investigated in a biological framework, where properties are typically examined in light of their putative functions. Here we relate the major questions that were debated during a three-day workshop devoted to discussing whether natural selection may take place in non-living physical systems. We start this report with a brief overview of research fields dealing with “life-like” or “proto-biotic” systems, where mimicking evolution by natural selection in test tubes stands as a major objective. We contend the challenge may be as much conceptual as technical. Taking the problem from a physical angle, we then discuss the framework of dissipative structures. Although life is viewed in this context as a particular case within a larger ensemble of physical phenomena, this approach does not provide general principles from which natural selection can be derived. Turning back to evolutionary biology, we ask to what extent the most general formulations of the necessary conditions or signatures of natural selection may be applicable beyond biology. In our view, such a cross-disciplinary jump is impeded by reliance on individuality as a central yet implicit and loosely defined concept. Overall, these discussions thus lead us to conjecture that understanding, in physico-chemical terms, how individuality emerges and how it can be recognised, will be essential in the search for instances of evolution by natural selection outside of living systems.

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“…But strikingly, the challenge is also conceptual, to the point that it appears difficult to even imagine theoretical systems that would radically differ from the biological paradigm of self-replicating nucleic acids and yet be considered as evolvable by natural selection [22][23][24]. Addressing this challenge may require shifting away from a categorical to a continuous perspective, as previously advocated in the context of the origin of "lifeness" [25][26][27][28][29]: asking, not if these systems are evolvable through natural selection, but to what extent they are, on a quantitative scale that remains to be formalised in cross-disciplinary terms. In the next section, we discuss whether the physical approach to far-from-equilibrium systems may take us closer to that objective.…”

Section: Natural Selection In Protobiotic Systems?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Selection beyond Life? A Workshop Report

Charlat¹,

Ariew²,

Bourrat³

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Natural selection is commonly seen not just as an explanation for adaptive evolution, but as the inevitable consequence of “heritable variation in fitness among individuals”. Although it remains embedded in biological concepts, such a formalisation makes it tempting to explore whether this precondition may be met not only in life as we know it, but also in other physical systems. This would imply that these systems are subject to natural selection and may perhaps be investigated in a biological framework, where properties are typically examined in light of their putative functions. Here we relate the major questions that were debated during a three-day workshop[1] devoted to discussing whether natural selection may take place in non-living physical systems. We start this report with a brief overview of research fields dealing with “life-like” or “proto-biotic” systems, where mimicking evolution by natural selection in test tubes stands as a major objective. We contend the challenge may be as much conceptual as technical. Taking the problem from a physical angle, we then discuss the framework of dissipative structures. Although life is viewed in this context as a particular case within a larger ensemble of physical phenomena, this approach does not provide general principles from which natural selection could be derived. Turning back to evolutionary biology, we ask to what extent the most general formulations of the necessary conditions or signatures of natural selection may be applicable beyond biology. In our view, such a cross-disciplinary jump is in large part impeded by reliance on individuality as a central yet implicit and loosely defined concept. Overall, these discussions thus lead us to conjecture that understanding, in physico-chemical terms, how individuality emerges and how it can be recognised, will be essential in the search for instances of evolution by natural selection outside of living systems. [1] Natural Selection Beyond Life? Observing the physico-chemical world through Darwinian glasses; 12-15 November 2019 - Institut d'Etudes Scientifiques, Cargèse, France

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Thresholds in Origin of Life Scenarios

Cited by 20 publications

References 108 publications

A Mutation Threshold for Cooperative Takeover

A Mutation Threshold for Cooperative Takeover

Natural Selection beyond Life? A Workshop Report

Natural Selection beyond Life? A Workshop Report

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