MESOBIOTIC EMERGENCE: MOLECULAR AND ENSEMBLE COMPLEXITY IN EARLY EVOLUTION

Barak Shenhav, Daniel Segrè and Doron Lancet ()
Additional contact information
Barak Shenhav: Department of Molecular Genetics and Crown Human Genome Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel
Daniel Segrè: Lipper Center for Computational Genetics and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Doron Lancet: Department of Molecular Genetics and Crown Human Genome Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2003, vol. 06, issue 01, 15-35

Abstract: In addition to the visible complexity expressed in the morphogenesis of multicellular organisms, two levels of microscopic complexity may be discerned within every living cell. The first level is related to covalently bonded structures, namely molecules. The second level has to do with the generation of non-covalent molecular assemblies. Origin of life research has largely focused on the first complexity level, i.e. the appearance of covalent biopolymers. We present a life emergence scenario based mainly on the second complexity level. We argue that homeostatic molecular ensembles, for which we have coined the term "mesobiotic," have assumed a half-way position between prebiotic organic synthesis and full-fledged cellular (biotic) life.

Keywords: Mesobiotic; origin of life; metabolism first; chemical complexity; ensemble complexity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219525903000785
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:acsxxx:v:06:y:2003:i:01:n:s0219525903000785

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S0219525903000785

Access Statistics for this article

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) is currently edited by Frank Schweitzer

More articles in Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().