Arnold-Sommerfeld-Center für Theoretische Physik and Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany.
Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Jul 1;107(1):018101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.018101. Epub 2011 Jun 27.
A poorly understood step in the transition from a chemical to a biological world is the emergence of self-replicating molecular systems. We study how a precursor for such a replicator might arise in a hydrothermal RNA reactor, which accumulates longer sequences from unbiased monomer influx and random ligation. In the reactor, intra- and intermolecular base pairing locally protects from random cleavage. By analyzing stochastic simulations, we find temporal sequence correlations that constitute a signature of information transmission, weaker but of the same form as in a true replicator.
从化学世界向生物世界转变过程中的一个理解不深的步骤是自我复制分子系统的出现。我们研究了在热液 RNA 反应器中，这种复制子的前体是如何从无偏单体流入和随机连接中积累更长的序列的。在该反应器中，分子内和分子间碱基配对在局部上防止随机切割。通过分析随机模拟，我们发现了时间序列相关性，这构成了信息传递的特征，虽然较弱，但与真正的复制子形式相同。
