Cooperation and competition in prebiotic evolution: the finite population effect

• Grant number: 22/05544-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal Investigator: José Fernando Fontanari
• Grantee: Matheus Stefanini Mariano
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

One of the fundamental problems in prebiotic evolution is to explain the coexistence of structurally distinct self-replicating molecules, a necessary condition for the emergence and stabilization of sufficiently complex molecular structures capable of encoding (or even acting as) a rudimentary metabolism. Classic models of prebiotic evolution, such as the quasi-species model, do not allow for this kind of coexistence: only the most efficient replicator and its structurally similar mutants survive. One solution to this conundrum is the introduction of cooperative elements in the dynamics of molecular interaction, originally purely competitive, leading to catalytic molecular cycles, called hypercycles. The difficulty is that the hypercycles are vulnerable to invasion by non-cooperative mutant replicators (parasites), that is, self-replicating molecules that do not catalyze the replication of any other molecule in the cycle. In this project, we will explore how the principles that ensure the evolution and maintenance of cooperation in nature can be used to protect the hypercycles against parasites. As both the emergence of mutant replicators and the evolution of the population close to extinction require a formulation capable of describing the dynamics of a small number of replicators, we will use Gillespie's algorithm to simulate the stochastic version of the chemical kinetic equations that characterize the several classic replicator models.(AU)