Templator Model of Chemical Self-Replication

influx r

0.3

enzyme K

0.3

uncatalyzed

k

u

0.01

plot type

phase plot

time series

total time

time

For the last twenty years, chemists have been searching for chemical self-replicating molecules. This Demonstration shows plots of the concentrations of a self-replicating molecule and its components according to a proposed model called the Templator model. The parameter

r

is the ratio between the external reactant influx and the enzymatic output maximum rate. Thus, it is always less than unity.

k

u

is the ratio between the uncatalyzed rate constant and the templator rate constant, so it measures the effectiveness of the catalyst. From experiments it is known that

k

u

is very small. Finally,

K

characterizes the enzymatic reaction that removes the templator from the reacting system.