Hypercycle

Szymon Wasik,Jacek Blazewicz,Natalia Szostak,Shoshana Wodak

doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004853

Abstract

Hypercycle

Highlights

A hypercycle is an abstract model of organization of self-replicating molecules connected in a cyclic, autocatalytic manner
It was introduced in an ordinary differential equation (ODE) form by the Nobel Prize winner Manfred Eigen in 1971 [1] and subsequently further extended in collaboration with Peter Schuster [2,3]
It was proposed as a solution to the error threshold problem encountered during modelling of replicative molecules that hypothetically existed on the primordial Earth

Summary

Introduction

A hypercycle is an abstract model of organization of self-replicating molecules connected in a cyclic, autocatalytic manner. It was introduced in an ordinary differential equation (ODE) form by the Nobel Prize winner Manfred Eigen in 1971 [1] and subsequently further extended in collaboration with Peter Schuster [2,3]. The coexistence of many genetically non-identical molecules makes it possible to maintain a high genetic diversity of the population This can be a solution to the error threshold problem, which states that, in a system without ideal replication, an excess of mutation events would destroy the ability to carry information and prevent the creation of larger and fitter macromolecules. Doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004853.g001 experiment proves the existence of cooperation among the recombinase ribozyme subnetworks, this cooperative network does not form a hypercycle per se, so we still lack the experimental demonstration of hypercycles [15]

Model Formulation Error threshold problem

Hypercycle models

Alternative concepts

Elementary hypercycle

Formation of the first hypercycles

Evolutionary dynamics

Compartmentalization and Genome Integration

Hypercycles and Ribozymes