Hordijk Wim
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria.
J Theor Biol. 2017 Dec 21;435:22-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Sep 6.
There is frequent confusion about the terms autocatalytic reaction, autocatalytic cycle, and autocatalytic set. As the use of the same adjective implies, these three systems do indeed share common properties, in particular their potential for exponential growth. However, the ways in which they achieve this potential are different, giving rise to different internal network structures and dynamics. Therefore, care should be taken which term is used in which context. Here, we explain and discuss the similarities and differences between the three systems in detail, in an effort to avoid any further confusion. We then also discuss the relevance of these autocatalytic systems for possible origin of life scenarios, with an emphasis on how autocatalytic sets may have played an important role in this.
对于自催化反应、自催化循环和自催化集这些术语，人们常常感到困惑。正如使用相同的形容词所暗示的那样，这三种系统确实具有共同的特性，特别是它们具有指数增长的潜力。然而，它们实现这种潜力的方式是不同的，这导致了不同的内部网络结构和动态。因此，在何种语境下使用哪个术语应谨慎。在这里，我们详细解释和讨论这三种系统之间的异同，以避免进一步的混淆。然后，我们还将讨论这些自催化系统与可能的生命起源情景的相关性，重点是自催化集在其中可能发挥的重要作用。
