The role of energy in a stochastic model of the emergence of autocatalytic sets
Abstract
In most theories concerning the origin of life autocatalytic sets are supposed to play an important role in the phase tran- sition between non-living and living matter. Although several theoretical models describe this phase transition, it is very hard to recreate the experimental conditions in wet lab. We here introduce a stochastic model of catalytic reaction net- works with energy constraints, devoted to the study of the emergence of autocatalytic sets, in which some of the as- sumptions of the already existing model are relaxed in order to explore the possible reasons which make the emergence of autocatalytic cycles difficult or which make them unstable. Moreover, since living systems operate with a continuous ex- change of matter and energy with the environment, we inves- tigate the effects on the model behavior of changes in the rate of the energy intake.
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