Davis B K
Research Foundation of Southern California Inc., La Jolla 92037, USA.
Prog Biophys Mol Biol. 1998;69(1):83-150. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6107(97)00034-5.
Competitive replication among RNA or DNA molecules at linear and non-linear rates of propagation has been reviewed from the perspective of a recent physicochemical model of molecular evolution and the findings are applied to pre-replication, prebiotic and biological evolution. A system of competitively replicating molecules was seen to follow a path of least action on both its thermodynamic and kinetic branch, in evolving toward steady state kinetics and equilibrium for the nucleotide condensation reaction. Stable and unstable states of coexistence, between competing molecular species, arise at nonlinear rates of propagation, and they derive from an equilibrium between kinetic forces. The de novo formation of self-replicating RNA molecules involves damping of these scalar forces, error tolerance and RNA driven strand separation. Increases in sequence complexity in the transition to self-replication does not exceed the free energy dissipated in RNA synthesis. Retrodiction of metabolic pathways and phylogenetic evidence point to the occurrence of three pre-replication metabolic systems, driven by autocatalytic C-fixation cycles. Thermodynamic and kinetic factors led to the replication take over. Biological evolution was found to involve resource capture, in addition to competition for a shared resource.
从分子进化的最新物理化学模型角度，对RNA或DNA分子以线性和非线性传播速率进行的竞争性复制进行了综述，并将这些发现应用于复制前、益生元及生物进化。在朝着核苷酸缩合反应的稳态动力学和平衡进化过程中，竞争性复制分子系统在其热力学和动力学分支上均遵循最小作用路径。在非线性传播速率下，竞争分子物种之间会出现共存的稳定和不稳定状态，这些状态源自动力之间的平衡。自我复制RNA分子的从头形成涉及这些标量力的衰减、容错能力以及RNA驱动的链分离。向自我复制转变过程中序列复杂性的增加不超过RNA合成中耗散的自由能。对代谢途径的追溯和系统发育证据表明，存在由自催化碳固定循环驱动的三个复制前代谢系统。热力学和动力学因素导致了复制接管。研究发现，除了对共享资源的竞争外，生物进化还涉及资源捕获。
