Dresden 2011 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Posters: Statistical Physics in Biological Systems
BP 7.19: Poster
Monday, March 14, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3
Evolution of increasingly complex molecules — •Philipp Zimmer1, Christian Lay2, Eva Wollrab2, Albrecht Ott2, and Karsten Kruse1 — 1Universität des Saarlandes, Theoretische Biologische Physik, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken — 2Universität des Saarlandes, Biologische Experimentalphysik, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken
Biological evolution started at the level of molecules. A long standing aim is to identify conditions under which molecules of increasing complexity can emerge. Such a process must necessarily be out of thermodynamical equilibrium. We consider a simple case, where the complexity of a molecule is given directly by its length. Starting from a fixed number of identical subunits, we consider two processes that can lead to molecules of increasing length: assisted and spontaneous catenation. Assisted catenation is achieved when the head-to-tail conformation of two molecules is stabilised by pairing these molecules with a third molecule. We find that below a critical rate of spontaneous catenations, the system produces “islands” of increasing complexity. We suggest that this situation can be realized experimentally using palindromic DNA sequences and ligases.