Berlin 2012 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 20: Regulation
BP 20.10: Talk
Thursday, March 29, 2012, 12:15–12:30, H 1058
Emergence of Information Transmission in a Prebiotic RNA Reactor — •Benedikt Obermayer1, Hubert Krammer2, Dieter Braun2, and Ulrich Gerland2 — 1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA — 2Physics Department, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
A poorly understood step in the transition from a chemical to a biological world is the emergence of self-replicating molecular systems. We study how a precursor for such a replicator might arise in a hydrothermal RNA reactor, which accumulates longer sequences from unbiased monomer influx and random ligation [1]. In the reactor, intra- and intermolecular base pairing locally protects from random cleavage. Analyzing stochastic simulations, we observe a strong bias towards long sequences with complex secondary structures, which would facilitate the emergence of ribozymes. Further, we find temporal sequence correlations that constitute a signature of information transmission, weaker but of the same form as in a true replicator.
[1] B. Obermayer, H. Krammer, D. Braun, U. Gerland, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107:018101 (2011)