A chemically fuelled self-replicator

Sarah M. Morrow, Ignacio Colomer and Stephen P. Fletcher ()
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Sarah M. Morrow: University of Oxford, Mansfield Road
Ignacio Colomer: University of Oxford, Mansfield Road
Stephen P. Fletcher: University of Oxford, Mansfield Road

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The continuous consumption of chemical energy powers biological systems so that they can operate functional supramolecular structures. A goal of modern science is to understand how simple chemical mixtures may transition from non-living components to truly emergent systems and the production of new lifelike materials and machines. In this work a replicator can be maintained out-of-equilibrium by the continuous consumption of chemical energy. The system is driven by the autocatalytic formation of a metastable surfactant whose breakdown products are converted back into building blocks by a chemical fuel. The consumption of fuel allows the high-energy replicators to persist at a steady state, much like a simple metabolic cycle. Thermodynamically-driven reactions effect a unidirectional substrate flux as the system tries to regain equilibrium. The metastable replicator persists at a higher concentration than achieved even transiently in a closed system, and its concentration is responsive to the rate of fuel supply.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-08885-9

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