Dresden 2014 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 46: Stochastic Dynamics of Growth Processes in Biological and Social Systems (joint session SOE/BP)
DY 46.1: Talk
Friday, April 4, 2014, 10:00–10:15, GÖR 226
Evolution of increasingly complex linear molecules — •Philipp Zimmer1, Emanuel Gregor Worst2, Eva Wollrab2, Albrecht Ott2, and Karsten Kruse1 — 1Universität des Saarlandes, Theoretische Biologische Physik, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken — 2Universität des Saarlandes, Biologische Experimentalphysik, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken
Darwinian evolution is based on variation and selection acting on mutations, reproduction, or the metabolism of a species. These processes can only take place when the underlying system is out of thermodynamical equilibrium. For natural evolution the species as well as their relation network has continuously been gaining complexity. The conditions necessary for a steady increase in complexity are not well understood. Performing stochastic simulations as well as experiments with DNA, we analyze a chemical system consisting of autocatalytically concatenating chains. We find that, despite its inherent stochastical nature, the system evolves along a reproducible path towards states of increasing complexity if the autocatalytic activity exceeds a critical value.