Hypercycle (chemistry)
Encyclopedia
A Hypercycle is a new level of organization whereby self-replicative units are connected in a cyclic, autocatalytic manner. The self-replicative units are themselves (auto)catalytic cycles. The Hypercycle is a specific model of the chemical origin of life, pioneered by Eigen
and Schuster
. From random distributions of chemicals, the Hypercycle model seeks to find and grow sets of chemical transformations that include self-reinforcing loops. Hypercycles are very similar with autocatalytic systems in that both represent a cyclic arrangement of catalysts which themselves are cycles of reactions. The difference of Hypercycles is that the catalysts that constitute them are themselves self-replicative.
Manfred Eigen
Manfred Eigen is a German biophysical chemist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on measuring fast chemical reactions.-Career:...
and Schuster
Peter Schuster
Peter K. Schuster is a renowned theoretical chemist, known for his work with the German Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen in developing the quasispecies model...
. From random distributions of chemicals, the Hypercycle model seeks to find and grow sets of chemical transformations that include self-reinforcing loops. Hypercycles are very similar with autocatalytic systems in that both represent a cyclic arrangement of catalysts which themselves are cycles of reactions. The difference of Hypercycles is that the catalysts that constitute them are themselves self-replicative.
See also
- AbiogenesisAbiogenesisAbiogenesis or biopoesis is the study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter through natural processes, and the method by which life on Earth arose...
- Autocatalytic setAutocatalytic setAn autocatalytic set is a collection of entities, each of which can be created catalytically by other entities within the set, such that as a whole, the set is able to catalyze its own production. In this way the set as a whole is said to be autocatalytic...
- Origin of life
- Quasispecies modelQuasispecies modelThe quasispecies model is a description of the process of the Darwinian evolution of certain self-replicating entities within the framework of physical chemistry...
- ChemotonChemotonThe chemoton is an abstract model for life introduced by Tibor Gánti in 1971. Its aim was to define the minimal model of a living organism.A living system:# Has to be separated from its environment.# Has to perform metabolism with its environment....