iScience
Volume 23, Issue 11, 20 November 2020, 101756
Thresholds in Origin of Life Scenarios
Cyrille Jeancolas 1, 2 Christophe Malaterre 3, Philippe Nghe 1
1 Laboratoire de Biochimie, UMR CNRS-ESPCI 8231 Chimie Biologie Innovation, PSL University, ESPCI Paris, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005 Paris, France
2 Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale, Collège de France, 52 rue du Cardinal Lemoine, 75005 Paris, France
3 Département de Philosophie and Centre de Recherche Interuniversitaire sur la Science et la Technologie (CIRST), Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), 455 boulevard René-Lévesque Est, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada
Available online 1 November 2020.
Highlights
• Thresholds delineate qualitatively states in origin of life and can be studied quantitatively.
• Crossing thresholds is driven by environment, system parameters, or coupling thereof.
• Articulating series of thresholds reveals evolutionary pathways in origin of life scenarios.
• Thresholds guide the interdisciplinary coordination of experiments, observations and theory.
Summary
Thresholds are widespread in origin of life scenarios, from the emergence of chirality, to the appearance of vesicles, of autocatalysis, all the way up to Darwinian evolution. Here, we analyze the “error threshold,” which poses a condition for sustaining polymer replication, and generalize the threshold approach to other properties of prebiotic systems. Thresholds provide theoretical predictions, prescribe experimental tests, and integrate interdisciplinary knowledge. The coupling between systems and their environment determines how thresholds can be crossed, leading to different categories of prebiotic transitions. Articulating multiple thresholds reveals evolutionary properties in prebiotic scenarios. Overall, thresholds indicate how to assess, revise, and compare origin of life scenarios.
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