Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 13: Poster - Glasses / Stat. Phys. Bio. / Networks (joint session DY/BP/CPP/SOE)

DY 13.27: Poster

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 09:30–12:30, P1

Coexisting autocatalysts generate increasing complexity — •Emanuel Gregor Worst¹, Philipp Zimmer², Eva Wollrab¹, Karsten Kruse², and Albrecht Ott¹ — ¹Biologische Experimentalphysik, Universität des Saarlandes, Deutschland — ²Theoretische Biologische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, Deutschland

The evolution towards more complex structures from the earliest building blocks of life remains poorly understood. Here we present an experimental realization that exhibits evolutionary properties in one dimension and generates multiple coexisting species. Molecular chains of a certain length (identified as a species) are autocatalytically reproducing, and new species form randomly by spontaneous concatenation. We use DNA strands and DNA ligase, covalently linking single-stranded DNA, as an experimental model system. Reproduction occurs by template-directed ligation. Spontaneous and random generation of new species is a consequence of thermal fluctuations. We show that the system evolves towards more complex structures in a non-trivial way if the ratio between autocatalytic reproduction and spontaneous generation of new species exceeds a critical value. An outstanding characteristic of this system is the iterated production of more complex species while coexistence is maintained.