Emergence of order in small autocatalytic sets maintained far from equilibrium: application of a probabilistic receptor affinity distribution (RDA) model

We examined the behavior of auto-catalytic sets of polymers by a computer simulation. Polymers are allowed to interact with each other, whereby each polymer molecule may catalyze the formation and degradation of others. The system is subjected to a set of thermodynamic and kinetic constraints, including a constant influx of free energy, which keeps the system away from chemical equilibrium and thus enables the effect of catalysis. The system is found to continuously change and probe many possible values in the composition space. In this simulation we make use of a Receptor Affinity Distribution (RAD) model to predict the probabilities of interaction and catalysis. Our results indicate that initially random sets of polymers, under the assumptions of the model, might accumulate information (i.e., clustering in the composition space). Sets will occupy a limited region of composition space, and temporarily reproduce themselves or disperse and give rise to other sets.