A novel achievement of PACE has been the development of a new kind of model of the interaction between the self-assembly process and the process of evolution. This work explores the ability of molecular evolution to take control of collective physical phases, making the first decisive step from independent replicators towards cell-like collective structures. Starting from the simplest Ising model of a collective phase transition in a fluid the interplay of increasingly complex amphiphilic phases with chemical evolution has been investigated.
In addition, the evolutionary propoerties of explicit physical self-assembly models of the artificial cell have been investigated. The modelling and simulation of two kinds of protocell life-cycle are presented in the previous chapter:
These models now allow some evolutionary aspects of the artificial cell life cycle to be investigated:
A 3D mesoscale simulation framework for the micellar protocell life cycle was built with a reactive Dissipative Particle Dynamics approach using bonded point particles. This simplified life-cycle contains an explicit representation of genetic molecules as well as self-assembly and a rudimentary metabolism.
A 3D mesoscale simulation framework for the vesicular artificial cell life cycle was built with a complementary extended Dissipative Particle Dynamics approach (mprDPD). This simplified life-cycle contains metabolic turnover of amphiphilic components, constructed from precursors that need to be assimilated from the surrounding medium, consistent with a homeostatic metabolizing cell. Genetic molecules are treated indirectly in their influence on amphiphile properties.