Theory, modelling and simulation in origins of life studies
- ️H. Christopher Greenwell
* Corresponding authors
a
Centre for Computational Science, Department of Chemistry, UCL, 20 Gordon Street, London, UK
E-mail:
p.v.coveney@ucl.ac.uk, jacob.swadling.09@ucl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7679 4802
b
School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, UK
E-mail:
jonathan.wattis@nottingham.ac.uk
c
Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, Durham, UK
E-mail:
chris.greenwell@durham.ac.uk
Abstract
Origins of life studies represent an exciting and highly multidisciplinary research field. In this review we focus on the contributions made by theory, modelling and simulation to addressing fundamental issues in the domain and the advances these approaches have helped to make in the field. Theoretical approaches will continue to make a major impact at the “systems chemistry” level based on the analysis of the remarkable properties of nonlinear catalytic chemical reaction networks, which arise due to the auto-catalytic and cross-catalytic nature of so many of the putative processes associated with self-replication and self-reproduction. In this way, we describe inter alia nonlinear kinetic models of RNA replication within a primordial Darwinian soup, the origins of homochirality and homochiral polymerization. We then discuss state-of-the-art computationally-based molecular modelling techniques that are currently being deployed to investigate various scenarios relevant to the origins of life.
- This article is part of the themed collection: Prebiotic chemistry
Supplementary files
Article information
- https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CS35018A
- Tutorial Review
- 19 Jan 2012
- 07 Jun 2012
DOI
Article type
Submitted
First published
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012,41, 5430-5446
Permissions
Theory, modelling and simulation in origins of life studies
P. V. Coveney, J. B. Swadling, J. A. D. Wattis and H. C. Greenwell, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2012, 41, 5430 DOI: 10.1039/C2CS35018A
To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.
If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.
If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.
Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.