Prebiotic chemistry, artificial life, and complexity theory: What do they tell us about the origin of biological systems?

Abstract

Although the origin of self-sustaining, autoreplicating systems capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution is still unknown, a research program based on the hypothesis of chemical and precellular evolution has provided a framework within which the abiotic synthesis of biochemical monomers and membrane components, the experimental study of replicative systems, and the interactions between different ribozymes and a potentially wide range of substrates including amino acids, can be incorporated into a coherent historical narrative of evolutionary events. The significance of mathematical models and computer-based simulations of autocatalytic cycles based on complexity theory to the study of the origin of life will be considerable enhanced when experimental evidence supporting them becomes available.