Abstract
A concept of the initial stages of chemical prebiotic evolution, which eliminates a number of difficulties in the problem of the origin of life and permits experimental verification, is proposed. According to this concept, a predecessor of living beings has to be sufficiently simple to allow its self-assembly during a geologically short time period. In addition, the predecessor has to possess autocatalytic properties, and an ability for further complication (evolution). A possible scenario of the initial steps of the origin of life in nature and inside an experimental facility is considered. In the scope of the scenario the model of a multivariant oligomeric autocatalyst coupled with phase-separated particles is described. Results of computational simulations of possible initial steps in chemical evolution are presented. The estimates obtained show that the emergence of autocatalytic oligomeric phase-separated systems is possible at reasonable values of kinetics parameters of involved chemical reactions in a small-scale flow reactor.
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Bartsev, S.I., Mezhevikin, V.V. On the theoretical and experimental modeling of initial stages of metabolism formation in prebiotic systems. Paleontol. J. 40, S538–S542 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030106100145
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030106100145