Emergence of pre-genetic coding in a model pre-biotic ecology

A major problem for a theory of the origin of life is that it must address two interrelated issues: the emergence of both coding and inheritance. By coding we mean that an organism contains a means of storing information about its environment which can be subject to selective pressure. By inheritance we mean that this information can be passed on with sufficient accuracy to its offspring. In contemporary life-forms both of these results are achieved, in essence, through the chemical base pairings in a single molecule of DNA. However, it is difficult to see how they can have emerged in this manner. In this paper we outline a highly simplified model of a prebiotic ecology of protocells in which an inheritable pregenetic code can emerge. We show that selective pressure on a population of these protocells leads to the survival of those that acquire an inheritable pregenetic code. In this approach the rôles of coding and inheritance at the dawn of life are not separate: they both involve the physicochemical properties of the protocells and can therefore emerge together. We present a plausible biological basis for the model and some initial results from agent-based modelling of the ecology.