Physics NotePublished
Biogenesis: autocatalytic polymerization of DNA-like molecules as a critical phenomenon
C. Tsallis
1987
Publication details
- Authors
- C. Tsallis
- Type
- Physics Note
- Status
- Published
- Publication date
- 1987
- Description
- A fundamental prebiotic stage of the appearance of life on Earth (and/or possibly elsewhere) is the formation, from a random assembly of oligomers, of information - containing DNA-like macromolecules. By assuming a autocatalytic polymerization mechanism essentially based in the complemetarity of the Crick and Watson base-pairs, we develop theoretically a chemical equilibrium picture which suggests that this stage may have occurred as a critical phenomenon. We review a renormalization group approach worked out in collaboration with R. Ferreira, as well as a computer simulation performed in collaboration with H.J. Herrmann. Both techniques, in spite of their differences, converge onto a Darwinian-like scenario which naturally incorporates biologically relevant aspects of diversity and selection, and which suggests that polymers like ADN double-chains might have been more primitive than proteins.
- Year
- 1987
- Number
- CBPF-NF-065/87
- Linked to a thesis
- No
- Linked to a grant
- No