Ball, RowenaBrindley, John2014-03-171742-56891742-5662http://hdl.handle.net/1885/11461This paper presents and tests a previously unrecognised mechanism for driving a replicating molecular system on the prebiotic earth. It is proposed that cell-free RNA replication in the primordial soup may have been driven by self-sustained oscillatory thermochemical reactions. To test this hypothesis a well-characterised hydrogen peroxide oscillator was chosen as the driver and complementary RNA strands with known association and melting kinetics were used as the substrate. An open flow system model for the self-consistent, coupled evolution of the temperature and concentrations in a simple autocatalytic scheme is solved numerically, and it is shown that thermochemical cycling drives replication of the RNA strands. For the (justifiably realistic) values of parameters chosen for the simulated example system, the mean amount of replicant produced at steady state is 6.56 times the input amount, given a constant supply of substrate species. The spontaneo! us onset of sustained thermochemical oscillations via slowly drifting parameters is demonstrated, and a scheme is given for prebiotic production of complementary RNA strands on rock surfaces. The biotechnology potential of thermal cycling via a thermochemical oscillator is highlighted.15 pageshttp://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1742-5689/ “…author can archive pre-print on preprint servers or websites. Author can archive post-print on author's personal website, institutional website, institutional repository or not-for-profit repository sunject to 12 months embargo. Publisher's version/PDF cannot be used. …” from SHERPA/RoMEO site (as at 14/03/14)RNA worldthermochemical oscillatorpre-biotic replicationOrigins of life2014-0310.1098/rsif.2013.10522015-12-11