From Molecules to Life: Quantifying the Complexity of Chemical and Biological Systems in the Universe.
From Molecules to Life: Quantifying the Complexity of Chemical and Biological Systems in the Universe.
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DOI：
10.1007/s00239-017-9824-6
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发表时间：
2018-01
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Böttcher T
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Böttcher T
生命是一种复杂的现象，许多研究致力于从生命起源前的化学中了解其起源，并发现地球以外的生命。然而，如何量化这种复杂性以及如何在一个共同的尺度上比较化学和生物单位仍然难以捉摸。在这里，应用了分子复杂性的数学描述，可以定量评估化学结构的复杂性。这与信息复杂性的正交测量相结合，产生了涵盖从分子到生物体整个范围的二维复杂性空间。具有一定程度的信息复杂性的实体直接需要功能复杂的机制来进行生产或复制，因此预示着类似生命的系统。为了描述结合了分子和信息复杂性的实体，引入了术语“生物单元”。计算了核酶、蛋白酶、多聚蛋白复合物、甚至整个病毒颗粒的示例生物单元复杂性。估计了原核和真核细胞以及多细胞生物的复杂性。从而确定了复杂性空间中不同的进化阶段。这里开发的比较生物单元复杂性的方法首次允许在不需要生命定义的情况下解决生命起源和类生命系统的渐进特征。这一操作概念可能会指导我们在宇宙中寻找生命，也可能指导对生命起源前轨迹的研究，从而导致生命起源的复杂性进化。本文的在线版本 (10.1007/s00239-017-9824-6) 包含补充材料，可供授权用户使用。
Life is a complex phenomenon and much research has been devoted to both understanding its origins from prebiotic chemistry and discovering life beyond Earth. Yet, it has remained elusive how to quantify this complexity and how to compare chemical and biological units on one common scale. Here, a mathematical description of molecular complexity was applied allowing to quantitatively assess complexity of chemical structures. This in combination with the orthogonal measure of information complexity resulted in a two-dimensional complexity space ranging over the entire spectrum from molecules to organisms. Entities with a certain level of information complexity directly require a functionally complex mechanism for their production or replication and are hence indicative for life-like systems. In order to describe entities combining molecular and information complexity, the term biogenic unit was introduced. Exemplified biogenic unit complexities were calculated for ribozymes, protein enzymes, multimeric protein complexes, and even an entire virus particle. Complexities of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, as well as multicellular organisms, were estimated. Thereby distinct evolutionary stages in complexity space were identified. The here developed approach to compare the complexity of biogenic units allows for the first time to address the gradual characteristics of prebiotic and life-like systems without the need for a definition of life. This operational concept may guide our search for life in the Universe, and it may direct the investigations of prebiotic trajectories that lead towards the evolution of complexity at the origins of life. The online version of this article (10.1007/s00239-017-9824-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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