GRADED AUTOCATALYSIS REPLICATION DOMAIN (GARD) - KINETIC-ANALYSIS OF SELF-REPLICATION IN MUTUALLY CATALYTIC SETS

A Graded Autocatalysis Replication Domain (GARD) model is proposed, wh ich provides a rigorous kinetic analysis of simple chemical sets that manifest mutual catalysis. It is shown that catalytic closure can sust ain self-replication up to a critical dilution rate, lambda(c), relate d to the graded extent of mutual catalysis. We explore the behavior of vesicles containing GARD species whose mutual catalysis is governed b y a previously published statistical distribution. In the population t hus generated, some GARD vesicles display a significantly higher repli cation efficiency than most others. GARD thus represents a simple mode l for primordial chemical selection of mutually catalytic sets.