From Molecules to Life : Quantifying the Complexity of Chemical and Biological Systems in the Universe

Böttcher, Thomas

From Molecules to Life : Quantifying the Complexity of Chemical and Biological Systems in the Universe

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Boettcher_2-1e8q9l48ohond7.pdfGröße: 1.56 MBDownloads: 313

Datum

2018

Open Access-Veröffentlichung

Open Access Hybrid

Sammlungen

Chemie
Zukunftskolleg

Publikationstyp

Zeitschriftenartikel

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Published

Erschienen in

Journal of Molecular Evolution. 2018, 86(1), pp. 1-10. ISSN 0022-2844. eISSN 1432-1432. Available under: doi: 10.1007/s00239-017-9824-6

Zusammenfassung

Life is a complex phenomenon and much research has been devoted to both understanding its origins from prebiotic chemistry and discovering life beyond Earth. Yet, it has remained elusive how to quantify this complexity and how to compare chemical and biological units on one common scale. Here, a mathematical description of molecular complexity was applied allowing to quantitatively assess complexity of chemical structures. This in combination with the orthogonal measure of information complexity resulted in a two-dimensional complexity space ranging over the entire spectrum from molecules to organisms. Entities with a certain level of information complexity directly require a functionally complex mechanism for their production or replication and are hence indicative for life-like systems. In order to describe entities combining molecular and information complexity, the term biogenic unit was introduced. Exemplified biogenic unit complexities were calculated for ribozymes, protein enzymes, multimeric protein complexes, and even an entire virus particle. Complexities of prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, as well as multicellular organisms, were estimated. Thereby distinct evolutionary stages in complexity space were identified. The here developed approach to compare the complexity of biogenic units allows for the first time to address the gradual characteristics of prebiotic and life-like systems without the need for a definition of life. This operational concept may guide our search for life in the Universe, and it may direct the investigations of prebiotic trajectories that lead towards the evolution of complexity at the origins of life.

Fachgebiet (DDC)

540 Chemie

Zitieren

ISO 690

BÖTTCHER, Thomas, 2018. From Molecules to Life : Quantifying the Complexity of Chemical and Biological Systems in the Universe. In: Journal of Molecular Evolution. 2018, 86(1), pp. 1-10. ISSN 0022-2844. eISSN 1432-1432. Available under: doi: 10.1007/s00239-017-9824-6

BibTex

@article{Bottcher2018-01Molec-41528,
  year={2018},
  doi={10.1007/s00239-017-9824-6},
  title={From Molecules to Life : Quantifying the Complexity of Chemical and Biological Systems in the Universe},
  number={1},
  volume={86},
  issn={0022-2844},
  journal={Journal of Molecular Evolution},
  pages={1--10},
  author={Böttcher, Thomas}
}

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