Abstract
Despite years of study, it is still not clear how life emerged from inanimate matter and evolved into the complex forms that we observe today. One of the most recognized hypotheses for the origins of life, the RNA World hypothesis, assumes that life was sparked by prebiotic replicating RNA chains. In this paper, we address the problems caused by the interplay between hypothetical prebiotic RNA replicases and RNA parasitic species. We consider the coexistence of parasite RNAs and RNA replicases as well as the impact of parasites on the further evolution of replicases. For these purposes, we used multi-agent modeling techniques that allow for realistic assumptions regarding the movement and spatial interactions of modeled species. The general model used in this study is based on work by Takeuchi and Hogeweg. Our results confirm that the coexistence of parasite RNAs and replicases is possible in a spatially extended system, even if we take into consideration more realistic assumptions than Takeuchi and Hogeweg. However, we also showed that the presence of trade-off that takes into the account an RNA folding process could still pose a serious obstacle to the evolution of replication. We conclude that this might be a cause for one of the greatest transitions in life that took place early in evolution—the separation of the function between DNA templates and protein enzymes, with a central role for RNA species.
Highlights
The origins of life and their evolution are currently one of the hottest topics in science
As replication is performed by RNA replicases that store the necessary information for creating new instances of themselves, the existence of a trade-off that takes into account RNA folding could still pose a serious obstacle to evolution
Our model can be classified as a multilevel selection model of type 1 (MLS1), where the entities are Simulating the origins of life: The dual role of RNA replicases as an obstacle to evolution the individual molecules rather than their groups
Summary
The origins of life and their evolution are currently one of the hottest topics in science. Since the discovery of catalytic RNA activities [1, 2], the RNA World hypothesis has become the most plausible hypothesis for the origins of life [3]. Since its foundation [4,5,6], many researchers have performed experiments aimed at finding the most plausible pathways by which stereochemically appropriate nucleotides could build prebiotic RNAs. Recently, Powner et al proved that the 2-aminooxazole pathway could yield pyrimidine nucleotides [7], while the formamide-based chemistry showed the possibility to create purines and pyrimidines in the presence of various catalysts [8]. Starting from the assumption that nucleotides were already present in the primordial soup, Costanzo et al experimentally demonstrated RNA nucleotide.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
