Abstract

Uncovering the origin of life on earth remains a grand challenge problem for the natural sciences. Some headway has been made by reasoning about which biological macromolecules were the first to appear, as in the well-known "RNA world" hypothesis. However, new approaches are needed for further advances. We seek instead the physical driving forces, powered by nonequilibrium supplies of energy, that could have compelled the emergence of life from simple chemistry in the capricious environments of the early earth. This perspective leads us to examine the prebiotic origins and characteristics not of molecule types, but of the dynamical principles of self-organization, adaptation, and persistence. We find that evolutionary dynamics, biology's essential driving force, has a definitive, universal beginning. By focusing on how Darwinian evolution arises naturally in the protein folding process, we demonstrate how driving forces are the key to all coherent origin of life narratives.

Year

5-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Keywords

cooperativity, evolution, fitness, origin of life, protein world, stochastic dynamics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

Advisor

Ken Dill

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