Pross Addy
Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 84105, Israel.
Orig Life Evol Biosph. 2005 Apr;35(2):151-66. doi: 10.1007/s11084-005-5272-1.
A kinetic model that attempts to further clarify the nature of biological complexification is presented. Its essence: reactions of replicating systems and those of regular chemical systems follow different selection rules leading to different patterns of chemical behavior. For regular chemical systems selection is fundamentally thermodynamic, whereas for replicating chemical systems selection is effectively kinetic. Building on an extension of the kinetic stability, concept it is shown that complex replicators tend to be kinetically more stable than simple ones, leading to an on-going process of kinetically-directed complexification. The high kinetic stability of simple replicating assemblies such as phages, compared to the low kinetic stability of the assembly components, illustrates the complexification principle. The analysis suggests that living systems constitute a kinetic state of matter, as opposed to the traditional thermodynamic states that dominate the inanimate world, and reaffirms our view that life is a particular manifestation of replicative chemistry.
本文提出了一个动力学模型，旨在进一步阐明生物复杂化的本质。其核心观点是：复制系统的反应与常规化学系统的反应遵循不同的选择规则，从而导致不同的化学行为模式。对于常规化学系统，选择基本上是热力学性质的；而对于复制化学系统，选择实际上是动力学性质的。基于动力学稳定性概念的扩展，研究表明复杂复制子在动力学上往往比简单复制子更稳定，从而导致一个由动力学引导的持续复杂化过程。与组装组件的低动力学稳定性相比，噬菌体等简单复制组装体的高动力学稳定性说明了复杂化原理。分析表明，生命系统构成了一种物质的动力学状态，这与主导无生命世界的传统热力学状态相反，并重申了我们的观点，即生命是复制化学的一种特殊表现形式。
