Chiral polymerisation and the RNA world

The purpose of this paper is to review two mathematical models: one for the formation of homochiral polymers from an originally chirally symmetric system; and the other, to show how, in an RNA-world scenario, RNA can simultaneously act both as information storage and a catalyst for its own productio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wattis, Jonathan A.D., Coveney, Peter V.
Format: Article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/928/
Description
Summary:The purpose of this paper is to review two mathematical models: one for the formation of homochiral polymers from an originally chirally symmetric system; and the other, to show how, in an RNA-world scenario, RNA can simultaneously act both as information storage and a catalyst for its own production. We note the similarities and differences in chemical mechanisms present in the systems. We review these two systems, analysing steady-states, interesting kinetics and the stability of symmetric solutions. In both systems we show that there are ranges of parameter values where some chains increase their own concentrations faster than others.