Maximal gene number maintainable by stochastic correction – The second error threshold

Hubai, András and Kun, Ádám (2015) Maximal gene number maintainable by stochastic correction – The second error threshold. JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY. ISSN 0022-5193 (Submitted)

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Abstract

There is still no general solution to Eigen's Paradox, the chicken-or-egg problem of the origin of life: neither accurate copying, nor long genomes could have evolved without one another being established beforehand. But an array of small, individually replicating genes might offer a workaround, provided that multilevel selection assists the survival of the ensemble. There are two key difficulties that such a system has to overcome: the non-synchronous replication of genes, and their random assortment into daughter cells (the units of higher-level selection) upon fission. Here we find, using the Stochastic Corrector Model framework, that a large number (tau >= 90) of genes can coexist. Furthermore, the system can tolerate about 10% of replication rate asymmetry (competition) among the genes. On this basis, we put forward a plausible (and testable!) scenario for how novel genes could have been incorporated into early evolving systems: a route to complex metabolism.

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