Kinetic Selection of Template Polymer with Complex Sequences

Phys Rev Lett. 2018 Sep 14;121(11):118101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.118101.

Abstract

The emergence and maintenance of polymers with complex sequences pose a major question in the study of the origin of life. To answer this, we study a model polymerization reaction, where polymers are synthesized by stepwise ligation from two types of monomers, catalyzed by a long polymer as a template. Direct stochastic simulation and dynamical systems analysis reveal that the most dominant polymer sequence in a population successively changes, depending on the flow rate of monomers to the system, with more complex sequences selected at a lower flow rate. We discuss the relevance of this kinetic sequence selection through nonequilibrium flow to the origin of complex polymers.