Text 766, 55 rader
Skriven 2004-11-13 02:49:00 av Catherine Woodgold (1:278/230)
Ärende: Re: No Grace Period for M
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tinyurl.com/uh3t (rem642b@Yahoo.Com) writes:
>  A1a + A1b --(C1)-> C2 + E1
>  A2a + A2b --(C2)-> C3 + E2
>  A3a + A3b --(C3)-> C1 + E3
> then C1 -> C2 -> C3 -> C1 is the catalytic cycle I speak of.
> As soon as one molecule of C1 exists, it catalyzes the creation
> of several molecules of C2, which catalyze the creation of many
> molecules of C3, which catalyze the creation of very many molecules
> of C1, and the cycle rapidly converts as much of A1a...A3b as available.
> 
> So do you have any proof the first replicator couldn't have been that
> simple?

Ah, I think I see what's going on.  Science tends to go
with the simplest theory that explains the situation, but
simplicity is subjective.  You see catalytic cycles as "simple"
and RNA as complex.  I see RNA (or something like it) as
simple, and catalytic cycles as complex.  Just subjective
opinion, until anybody actually disproves anything.

Here's an argument about what the first replicator had
to be like:

If it was the ancestor of life, it had to be able to mutate.

In order to be able to mutate and breed true, it had to
have some way to pass information along the catalytic loop,
so that if the loop began with mutant C1b, it would come
around back to C1b with a reasonably high probability, rather
than just coming back to C1a or some other substance.

A plausible way for information to go around the loop like
that would be for all the catalysts in the loop to
be of similar form.  For example, C1a might be a polymer of length
4 with pattern AABA, and all the catalysts in the "a" loop
could have the same AABA pattern (expressed in different
substances perhaps, but the same pattern of repetition);
so when it mutated to C1b, perhaps AABB instead of AABA,
it would just naturally continue the pattern and come around
back to C1b.

For the catalysts to have the same form, it would be
simplest if they were actually the same substance.
Something like RNA replicating to complementary RNA ...
--
Cathy
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