Turbulent coherent structures and early life below the Kolmogorov scale.

ABSTRACT: Major evolutionary transitions, including the emergence of life, likely occurred in aqueous environments. While the role of water's chemistry in early life is well studied, the effects of water's ability to manipulate population structure are less clear. Population structure is known to be critical, as effective replicators must be insulated from parasites. Here, we propose that turbulent coherent structures, long-lasting flow patterns which trap particles, may serve many of the properties associated with compartments - collocalization, division, and merging - which are commonly thought to play a key role in the origins of life and other evolutionary transitions. We substantiate this idea by simulating multiple proposed metabolisms for early life in a simple model of a turbulent flow, and

SUBMITTER: Krieger MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7198613 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature