Probing Crosscatalysis, Autocatalysis and Amplification Effects in Hypercyclic Replication Networks

探索超循环复制网络中的交叉催化、自催化和放大效应

• 批准号: EP/E017851/1
• 负责人: Douglas Philp
• 金额: $ 41.79万
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FE017851%2F1
• 关键词: Probing; Crosscatalysis; Autocatalysis; Amplification; Effects

Replication is the cornerstone of the success of biological systems. The behaviour of replicating systems has many attractive features that are of interest to synthetic chemists. If we can learn to design and exploit replication in a purely synthetic, i.e. non-biological context, the development of cleaner and more efficient synthetic routes to important compounds becomes possible. The cooperation and interaction between replication systems in biology is key to evolving more complex behaviour. This behaviour is termed hypercyclic and encompasses features such as feedback loops and amplification of specific products. This project aims to investigate, develop and exploit this hypercyclic behaviour in synthetic systems. The outcome of this research programme is very hard to predict a priori. It is possible, though unlikely based on our preliminary simulations, that placing different replicating systems in competition or cooperation might simply lead to each system inhibiting the operation of the others. If this scenario emerges, that this result in itself is important in that it places certain constraints on the emergence and the identity of early replicators on the prebiotic earth. If, however, we can evolve complex hypercyclic cooperative behaviour, such as feedback loops and amplification, then we will have demonstrated that complex behaviour is ubiquitous and by careful design can be harnessed to whatever synthetic end is demanded by the chemist. This proposal aims to address these issues through a programme of fundamental and systematic studies of minimal and reciprocal replication and their interactions with the goals of both exposing the basic physical organic chemistry of replication and developing an integrated design framework for replicating systems with which to move forward.

复制是生物系统成功的基石。复制系统的行为有许多吸引合成化学家的特性。如果我们能够学会在纯合成的，即非生物的背景下设计和利用复制，那么开发更清洁和更有效的重要化合物合成路线就成为可能。生物学中复制系统之间的合作和相互作用是进化更复杂行为的关键。这种行为被称为超循环，包括反馈回路和特定产物的扩增等特征。该项目旨在研究，开发和利用合成系统中的这种超循环行为。这项研究计划的结果很难事先预测。虽然根据我们的初步模拟，这种可能性不大，但将不同的复制系统置于竞争或合作中可能只会导致每个系统抑制其他系统的运行。如果这种情况出现，这个结果本身就很重要，因为它对生物起源前地球上早期复制因子的出现和身份设置了某些限制。然而，如果我们能够进化出复杂的超循环合作行为，如反馈回路和放大，那么我们就证明了复杂行为是无处不在的，通过精心设计，可以利用化学家所要求的任何合成目的。该提案旨在通过一项对最小和互惠复制及其相互作用的基础性和系统性研究计划来解决这些问题，其目标是揭示复制的基本物理有机化学，并开发复制系统的综合设计框架，以便继续前进。