Biomathematical enzyme kinetics model of prebiotic autocatalytic RNA networks: degenerating parasite-specific hyperparasite catalysts confer parasite resistance and herald the birth of molecular immunity

Abstract

Catalysis and specifically autocatalysis are the quintessential building blocks of life. Yet, although autocatalytic networks are necessary, they are not sufficient for the emergence of life-like properties, such as self-propagation (replication) and adaptation. The ultimate and potentially fatal threat faced by molecular replicators is parasitism; if the polymerase error rate exceeds a critical threshold, even the fittest molecular species will disappear. Here we have developed an autocatalytic RNA early life mathematical network model based purely on enzyme kinetics, more specifically the steady-state approximation. We confirm previous models showing that these autocatalytic cycles are sustainable, provided there is a sufficient nucleotide pool. However, molecular parasites arise rapidly and become unsustainable unless they sequentially degenerate to hyperparasites (i.e. parasites of parasites). These hyperparasites acquire parasite binding specificity via two distinct temporal pathways. Our model is supported at three levels; firstly, ribozyme polymerases display Michaelis-Menten saturation kinetics and comply with the steady-state approximation. Secondly, ribozyme polymerases are capable of sustainable auto-amplification and of surmounting the fatal error threshold. Thirdly, with growing sequence divergence of host and parasite catalysts, the probability of self-binding increases and the trend towards cross-reactivity diminishes. Our model predicts that primordial host-RNA populations evolved via an arms race towards a host-parasite-hyperparasite catalyst trio that conferred parasite resistance within an RNA replicator niche. As such, it adds another mechanism, what is more, with biochemical precision, by which parasitism can be tamed and offers an attractive explanation for the universal coexistence of catalyst trios within prokaryotes and the virosphere, heralding the birth of a primitive molecular immunity.