Cargando…

Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles

The emergence and dominance of parasitic replicators are among the major hurdles for the proliferation of primitive replicators. Compartmentalization of replicators is proposed to relieve the parasite dominance; however, it remains unclear under what conditions simple compartmentalization uncoupled...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Furubayashi, Taro, Ichihashi, Norikazu
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871935/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29373536
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life8010003
_version_ 1783309725715136512
author Furubayashi, Taro
Ichihashi, Norikazu
author_facet Furubayashi, Taro
Ichihashi, Norikazu
author_sort Furubayashi, Taro
collection PubMed
description The emergence and dominance of parasitic replicators are among the major hurdles for the proliferation of primitive replicators. Compartmentalization of replicators is proposed to relieve the parasite dominance; however, it remains unclear under what conditions simple compartmentalization uncoupled with internal reaction secures the long-term survival of a population of primitive replicators against incessant parasite emergence. Here, we investigate the sustainability of a compartmentalized host-parasite replicator (CHPR) system undergoing periodic washout-mixing cycles, by constructing a mathematical model and performing extensive simulations. We describe sustainable landscapes of the CHPR system in the parameter space and elucidate the mechanism of phase transitions between sustainable and extinct regions. Our findings revealed that a large population size of compartments, a high mixing intensity, and a modest amount of nutrients are important factors for the robust survival of replicators. We also found two distinctive sustainable phases with different mixing intensities. These results suggest that a population of simple host–parasite replicators assumed before the origin of life can be sustained by a simple compartmentalization with periodic washout-mixing processes.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5871935
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-58719352018-03-30 Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles Furubayashi, Taro Ichihashi, Norikazu Life (Basel) Article The emergence and dominance of parasitic replicators are among the major hurdles for the proliferation of primitive replicators. Compartmentalization of replicators is proposed to relieve the parasite dominance; however, it remains unclear under what conditions simple compartmentalization uncoupled with internal reaction secures the long-term survival of a population of primitive replicators against incessant parasite emergence. Here, we investigate the sustainability of a compartmentalized host-parasite replicator (CHPR) system undergoing periodic washout-mixing cycles, by constructing a mathematical model and performing extensive simulations. We describe sustainable landscapes of the CHPR system in the parameter space and elucidate the mechanism of phase transitions between sustainable and extinct regions. Our findings revealed that a large population size of compartments, a high mixing intensity, and a modest amount of nutrients are important factors for the robust survival of replicators. We also found two distinctive sustainable phases with different mixing intensities. These results suggest that a population of simple host–parasite replicators assumed before the origin of life can be sustained by a simple compartmentalization with periodic washout-mixing processes. MDPI 2018-01-26 /pmc/articles/PMC5871935/ /pubmed/29373536 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life8010003 Text en © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Furubayashi, Taro
Ichihashi, Norikazu
Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles
title Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles
title_full Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles
title_fullStr Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles
title_full_unstemmed Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles
title_short Sustainability of a Compartmentalized Host-Parasite Replicator System under Periodic Washout-Mixing Cycles
title_sort sustainability of a compartmentalized host-parasite replicator system under periodic washout-mixing cycles
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871935/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29373536
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life8010003
work_keys_str_mv AT furubayashitaro sustainabilityofacompartmentalizedhostparasitereplicatorsystemunderperiodicwashoutmixingcycles
AT ichihashinorikazu sustainabilityofacompartmentalizedhostparasitereplicatorsystemunderperiodicwashoutmixingcycles