Title:
Reproduction of protocells: interplay of different timescales in a catalytic reaction network
Speaker:
Dr. Atsushi Kamimura (University of Tokyo)
Abstract:
Understanding how cellular components can be integrated into a reproducing cell is essential to unveil the origin of life and to experimentally synthesize protocells. A catalytic reaction network provides a basic theoretical model in which different molecular species mutually catalyze the replication of each other. Then, can we explain possible transitions in paths from non-living to living states at the primitive stage of life? and, if yes, how can they occur? To answer the questions, I show relevance of interplay of different timescales of the reactions to reproduction, growth-division process and diversity of protocells. In particular, by considering the dynamics of resources in the model, I show a transition to diversification occurs both in chemical components and in protocell types, when the maximum inflow and consumption of diverse resources are balanced. We find negative scaling relationship between molecular diversity and resource abundances, determined by a trade-off between the utility of diverse resources and the concentration onto fewer components to increase the reaction rate. Our results indicate that a simple physical principle of competition for a variety of limiting resources can be a strong driving force to diversify intracellular dynamics of a catalytic reaction network and to develop diverse protocell types in a primitive stage of life.