Selection of Catalysts through Cellular Reproduction

Naoaki Ono¹and Takashi Ikegami<sup>2

1</sup>ATR, Human Information Science Laboratories, 2-2-2¡¡Hikaridai,
"Keihanna Science City" (Seika-cho, Soraku-gun), Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
²Institute of Physics, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences,
University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba Tokyo 153-8902, Japan

Abstract:

A series of simulation studies show that a proto cell spontaneously emerges from a chemical soup by acquiring membrane structures. In 2-dimensional space, the emergence of proto cells is followed by the reproduction of cells. A major unsolved problem is the evolution of proto cells; how the proto cells evolve into modern cells with higher functionalities. Here we examine, as the first step, the evolution of catalysts within the proto-cells. Catalytic chemicals have different catalytic activity in generating membrane chemicals. We show that cells with higher activity of membrane production evolve through cellular selection.