期刊
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
卷 111, 期 5, 页码 1748-1753出版社
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1313601111
关键词
self-assembly; catalytic cycle
资金
- George F. Carrier Fellowship
- National Science Foundation through the Harvard Materials Research Science and Engineering Center [DMR-0820484]
- Division of Mathematical Sciences [DMS-0907985]
- Foundational Questions in Evolutionary Biology Fund [RFP-12-04]
- Division Of Mathematical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1411694] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
We construct schemes for self-replicating clusters of spherical particles, validated with computer simulations in a finite-temperature heat bath. Each particle has stickers uniformly distributed over its surface, and the rules for self-replication are encoded into the specificity and strength of interactions. Geometrical constraints imply that a compact cluster can copy itself only with help of a catalyst, a smaller cluster that increases the surface area to form a template. Replication efficiency requires optimizing interaction energies to destabilize all kinetic traps along the reaction pathway, as well as initiating a trigger event that specifies when the new cluster disassociates from its parent. Although there is a reasonably wide parameter range for self-replication, there is a subtle balance between the speed of the reaction, and the error rate. As a proof of principle, we construct interactions that self-replicate an octahedron, requiring a two-particle dimer for a catalyst. The resulting self-replication scheme is a hypercycle, and computer simulations confirm the exponential growth of both octahedron and catalyst replicas.
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