作为一级相变的生命的Emergence
The Emergence of Life as a First Order Phase Transition
摘要：
众所周知，地球上的生命会在进化和地质时间尺度上改变其环境。一个重要的悬而未决的问题是，这是进化优化的结果还是生命的普遍特征。在后一种情况下，生命的起源将与环境条件的转变相一致。在这里，我们提出了一个生命出现的模型，在这个模型中，复制因子通过有限资源的循环利用与它们的环境明确耦合。该模型表现出一个动态的，一阶相变从非生命的“生命”，其中的生命阶段是由复制选择区分。我们表明，环境耦合在过渡的动力学中起着重要的作用。这种转变对应于复制因子及其环境中物质的重新分配，由复制因子的选择驱动，随着复制因子的选择，多样性呈现爆炸性增长。复制者和他们的环境之间共享的互信息准确地跟踪了这种转变。在没有成功地重新分配系统资源的情况下，过渡无法完成，导致在生命首次出现之前可能会进行许多失败的试验。通常，启动转变的复制因子并不是那些最终被选中的复制因子。这些结果与生命塑造环境的倾向确实是复制因子的普遍特征的观点是一致的，这是从非生命到生命过渡的特征。我们讨论了这些结果的影响，更广泛地理解生命的出现和进化的转变。
英文摘要：
It is well known that life on Earth alters its environment over evolutionary and geological timescales. An important open question is whether this is a result of evolutionary optimization or a universal feature of life. In the latter case, the origin of life would be coincident with a shift in environmental conditions. Here we present a model for the emergence of life in which replicators are explicitly coupled to their environment through the recycling of a finite supply of resources. The model exhibits a dynamic, first-order phase transition from non-life to "life," where the life phase is distinguished by selection on replicators. We show that environmental coupling plays an important role in the dynamics of the transition. The transition corresponds to a redistribution of matter in replicators and their environment, driven by selection on replicators, exhibiting an explosive growth in diversity as replicators are selected. The transition is accurately tracked by the mutual information shared between replicators and their environment. In the absence of successfully repartitioning system resources, the transition fails to complete, leading to the possibility of many frustrated trials before life first emerges. Often, the replicators that initiate the transition are not those that are ultimately selected. The results are consistent with the view that life's propensity to shape its environment is indeed a universal feature of replicators, characteristic of the transition from non-life to life. We discuss the implications of these results for understanding life's emergence and evolutionary transitions more broadly.
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