Demonstrate in vitro reproduction of small-molecule autocatalytic sets found across prokaryotes

Establish that the small-molecule collectively autocatalytic sets identified computationally in the metabolic networks of 6,700 prokaryote species can reproduce chemically in vitro under non-equilibrium conditions from plausible food sets, thereby demonstrating laboratory self-reproduction of these autocatalytic networks.

Background

The paper reports computational identification of large small-molecule collectively autocatalytic sets with no DNA, RNA, or peptide polymers in all 6,700 prokaryotes. These sets synthesize key biomolecules and suggest that early molecular reproduction may have originated from such networks. However, direct experimental validation of chemical self-reproduction in vitro is still lacking, and confirming this would strengthen the proposed pathway for the emergence of life.

References

The sets are identified computationally. It remains to be shown that they reproduce in vitro.

— Is the Emergence of Life an Expected Phase Transition in the Evolving Universe? (2401.09514 - Kauffman et al., 17 Jan 2024) in Part I, Collectively Autocatalytic Sets (discussion around Figure 3)