Independent Genic Encoded Enzymatic Reactions May Randomly Link into Multi Step Biochemical Pathways in the Absence of Large Cell Selective Pressure

Citation: Teo, W, Kwan ZJ, Lum, AKY, Ng, SMH, Ling, MHT. 2024. Independent Genic-Encoded Enzymatic Reactions May Randomly Link into Multi-Step Biochemical Pathways in the Absence of Large Cell Selective Pressure. EC Microbiology 20(2): 01-07.

Link to [abstract].

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Origin of metabolic pathways is an important milestone in evolution, linking pre-biotic / abiotic era to biotic era, and genic-encoded enzymatic reactions is at the core. Studies imply that de novo genic origin of early enzymes is plausible. There are also suggestions that large cells may be at the origin of life. However, the questions of whether unlinked enzymatic reactions link to multi-step biochemical pathways and whether large cells are necessary remain. Here, we use digital organisms to examine the emergence of multi-step biochemical pathways from independently genic-encoded enzymatic reactions. Our simulation results suggest that independently genic-encoded enzymatic reactions can randomly link into multi-step biochemical pathways in the absence of large cell selective pressure (p-value > 0.05). This suggests that genic-encoded multi-step biochemical pathways may arise randomly once enzymes are prevalent.