The Coevolution of Cellularity and Metabolism Following the Origin of Life.

ABSTRACT: The emergence of cellular organisms occurred sometime between the origin of life and the evolution of the last universal common ancestor and represents one of the major transitions in evolutionary history. Here we describe a series of artificial life simulations that reveal a close relationship between the evolution of cellularity, the evolution of metabolism, and the richness of the environment. When environments are rich in processing energy, a resource that the digital organisms require to both process their genomes and replicate, populations evolve toward a state of non-cellularity. But when processing energy is not readily available in the environment and organisms must produce their own processing energy from food puzzles, populations always evolve both a proficient metabolism and a

SUBMITTER: Takagi YA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7445158 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature