Autocatalytic sets are chemical systems that could help explain the emergence of life from non-living materials. An autocatalytic set is a collection of molecules or chemical reactions where each component helps catalyze or facilitate the production of other components in the set. Essentially, the set as a whole is self-sustaining and can grow as long as it has access to a basic supply of raw materials.
Relation to the Origin of Life
In the context of the origin of life, autocatalytic sets might have been critical in creating the first self-replicating systems. These systems wouldn't have been alive in the way we think of living organisms today, but they could replicate and perhaps evolve in meaningful ways, setting the stage for more complex life forms. The idea is that once a basic autocatalytic set formed, it could lead to more complex networks and even merge with other networks, eventually giving rise to macromolecules - the information polymers of life.
This idea has been ignored by researchers in the past but seems to be sparking more and more interest the past 10 years or so.
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