Lehman Niles E, Kauffman Stuart A
Edac Research, 1879 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA.
Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
Entropy (Basel). 2021 Jan 13;23(1):105. doi: 10.3390/e23010105.
Life is an epiphenomenon for which origins are of tremendous interest to explain. We provide a framework for doing so based on the thermodynamic concept of work cycles. These cycles can create their own closure events, and thereby provide a mechanism for engendering novelty. We note that three significant such events led to life as we know it on Earth: (1) the advent of collective autocatalytic sets (CASs) of small molecules; (2) the advent of CASs of reproducing informational polymers; and (3) the advent of CASs of polymerase replicases. Each step could occur only when the boundary conditions of the system fostered constraints that fundamentally changed the phase space. With the realization that these successive events are required for innovative forms of life, we may now be able to focus more clearly on the question of life's abundance in the universe.
生命是一种附带现象，其起源非常值得解释。我们基于工作循环的热力学概念提供了一个这样做的框架。这些循环可以创造它们自己的封闭事件，从而提供一种产生新奇事物的机制。我们注意到，有三个重要的此类事件导致了我们所知的地球上的生命：（1）小分子集体自催化集（CASs）的出现；（2）复制信息聚合物的CASs的出现；（3）聚合酶复制酶的CASs的出现。每一步只有当系统的边界条件促成了从根本上改变相空间的约束时才会发生。随着认识到这些连续事件是创新生命形式所必需的，我们现在或许能够更清晰地聚焦于宇宙中生命丰富性的问题。
