生命的基本繁殖率。
The basic reproductive ratio of life.
机构信息
Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
出版信息
J Theor Biol. 2010 Apr 7;263(3):317-27. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.12.020. Epub 2009 Dec 23.
Template-directed polymerization of nucleotides is believed to be a pathway for the replication of genetic material in the earliest cells. We assume that activated monomers are produced by prebiotic chemistry. These monomers can undergo spontaneous polymerization, a system that we call "prelife." Adding template-directed polymerization changes the equilibrium structure of prelife if the rate constants meet certain criteria. In particular, if the basic reproductive ratio of sequences of a certain length exceeds one, then those sequences can attain high abundance. Furthermore, if many sequences replicate, then the longest sequences can reach high abundance even if the basic reproductive ratios of all sequences are less than one. We call this phenomenon "subcritical life." Subcritical life suggests that sequences long enough to be ribozymes can become abundant even if replication is relatively inefficient. Our work on the evolution of replication has interesting parallels to infection dynamics. Life (replication) can be seen as an infection of prelife.
核苷酸的模板指导聚合被认为是最早细胞中遗传物质复制的一种途径。我们假设激活的单体是由前生物化学产生的。这些单体可以自发聚合，我们称之为“前生命”。如果速率常数满足某些标准，添加模板指导聚合会改变前生命的平衡结构。特别是，如果特定长度序列的基本繁殖率超过 1，那么这些序列可以达到高丰度。此外，如果许多序列进行复制，那么即使所有序列的基本繁殖率都小于 1，最长的序列也可以达到高丰度。我们将这种现象称为“亚临界生命”。亚临界生命表明，即使复制效率相对较低，只要足够长的序列可以成为核酶，它们就可以变得丰富。我们对复制进化的研究与感染动力学有有趣的相似之处。生命（复制）可以被看作是前生命的一种感染。
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