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A poorly understood step in the transition from a chemical to a biological world is the emergence of self-replicating molecular systems. We study how a precursor for such a replicator might arise in a hydrothermal RNA reactor, which…
The emergence of self-replication and information transmission in life's origin remains unexplained despite extensive research on the topic. A hypothesis explaining the transition from a simple organic world to a complex RNA world is…
We propose a scenario for the prebiotic co-evolution of RNA and of fast folding proteins with large entropy gaps as observed today. We show from very general principles that the folding and unfolding of the proteins synthesized by RNA can…
In the study of life's origins, a key challenge is understanding how RNA could have polymerized and subsequently replicated in early Earth. We present a theoretical and computational framework to model the non-enzymatic polymerization of…
A mechanism of the replication of proto-RNAs in oligomer world is proposed. The replication is carried out by a minimum cycle which is sustained by a ligase and a helicase. We expect that such a cycle actually worked in the primordial soup…
The emergence of membranous compartments (protocells) with encapsulated genetic material was a crucial step life's origin and evolution. The hot spring hypothesis for the origin of life suggests that protocells could have formed in hot…
We propose an alternative to the prevailing two origin of life narratives, one based on a replicator first hypothesis, and one based on a metabolism first hypothesis. Both hypotheses have known difficulties: All known evolvable molecular…
One of the proposed scenarios for the origin of life is the primordial RNA world, which considers that RNA molecules were likely responsible for the storage of genetic information and the catalysis of biochemical reactions in primitive…
The emergence of functional oligonucleotides on early Earth required a molecular selection mechanism to screen for specific sequences with prebiotic functions. Cyclic processes such as daily temperature oscillations were ubiquitous in this…
This computational study introduces a theoretical framework for practical, electrochemical fuel generation displaying exponential product yields as functions of time. Exponential reaction scaling is simulated through an autocatalytic cycle…
A continuing frustration for origin of life scientists is that abiotic and, by extension, pre-biotic attempts to develop self-sustaining, evolving molecular systems tend to produce more dead-end substances than macromolecular products with…
How could primordial life, before the evolution of genetic systems, adapt to fluctuating environments and achieve homeostasis? This study proposes a minimal, chemically plausible model where homeostasis emerges from a simple chemical…
Background: The idea that autocatalytic sets played an important role in the origin of life is not new. However, the likelihood of autocatalytic sets emerging spontaneously has long been debated. Recently, progress has been made along two…
The formation of bubbles in nucleic acids (NAs) are fundamental in many biological processes such as DNA replication, recombination, telomeres formation, nucleotide excision repair, as well as RNA transcription and splicing. These precesses…
The thermosynthesis concept, biological free energy gain from thermal cycling, is combined with the concept of the RNA World. The resulting overall origin of life model gives new explanations for the emergence of the genetic code and the…
Context. Radical chemical reactions on cosmic dust grains play a crucial role in forming various chemical species. Among different radicals, the hydroxyl (OH) is one of the most important ones, with a rather specific chemistry. Aims. The…
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) underpins modern molecular biology, yet its deployment in emerging domains such as DNA data storage and distributed diagnostics remains constrained by bulky thermocyclers, complex thermal hardware, and…
A central challenge in the origin of life is understanding how catalytic peptide-like polymers and information-bearing nucleic acid-like polymers emerged as an interde-pendent system. This study constructs a primordial cognitive model…
Hybrid oscillator architectures that combine feedback oscillators with self-sustained negative resistance oscillators have emerged as a promising platform for artificial neuron design. In this work, we introduce a modeling and analysis…
Biological cells with all of their surface structure and complex interior stripped away are essentially vesicles - membranes composed of lipid bilayers which form closed sacs. Vesicles are thought to be relevant as models of primitive…