A MOLECULAR DYNAMIC NETWORK: MINIMAL PROPERTIES AND EVOLUTIONARY IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

Fundamental properties like robustness and evolvability are present in many dynamic systems. In biological systems, for instance, it seems that both properties are in continuous tension. However, this tension provokes throughout evolution the persistence of mutations and the existence of future evolutionary potential for changes. The special characteristics of biological systems, tell us that its distinctive properties could have been developed in pre-biotic era. In other words, the basic properties of life would have been better comprehended if we had realized that they arisen much earlier than previously thought. Hence, it is needed to be aware that it would come when we would hardly be able to find a molecule remotely resembling DNA, RNA, or even proteins. Nevertheless, it seems that a grand evolution must have happened between the phases of protocellular and bacterial evolutionary history. The design of this chapter is focus in proposing a working hypothesis, which addresses the problem of the emergence and self-maintenance of protocellular organization; and also the kind of evolutionary mechanism before life arose. Some results concluded from recent researches indicate that the development of interconnected molecular processes from scratch is possible, which would evolve from random initial conditions. At this point, it is shown that the most primary or basic properties of biological systems found in evolution are connected with new observations, and theoretical and practical implications. This happened due to how prebiotic protocells adapted and survived on that remote era. Moreover, the special self-organizing dynamics of biological systems suggests that its distinctive faculties could have been developed in prebiotic era much earlier than hitherto thought.