Coenzyme autocatalytic network on the surface of oil microspheres as a model for the origin of life

Abstract

Coenzymes are often considered as remnants of primordial metabolism, but not as hereditary molecules. I suggest that coenzyme-like molecules (CLMs) performed hereditary functions before the emergence of nucleic acids. Autocatalytic CLMs modified (encoded) surface properties of hydrocarbon microspheres, to which they were anchored, and these changes enhanced autocatalysis and propagation of CLMs. Heredity started from a single kind of self-reproducing CLM, and then evolved into more complex coenzyme autocatalytic networks containing multiple kinds of CLMs. Polymerization of CLMs on the surface of microspheres and development of template-based synthesis is a potential evolutionary path towards the emergence of nucleic acids.

Keywords: Origin of life; RNA world; coding relation; coenzyme world; hydrocarbon.

Figure 1.

Components of the coding relation. Coding element, CE, encodes function, F, which enhances survival and reproduction of organism, A; autocatalysis of CE is mediated by A.

Figure 2.

Early steps of biological evolution: (A) single coding elements; (B) multiple coding elements (combinatorial coding); (C) polymerization of coding elements (repetitive or random); and (D) template-based replication.