Towards open-ended evolution in self-replicating molecular systems

• Herman Duim and
• Sijbren Otto

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2017, 13, 1189–1203, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.118

• understanding of how life could have emerged from molecular building blocks and what is needed to create a minimal form of life in the laboratory. Keywords: autocatalysis; open-ended evolution; origin of life; self-replication; synthetic life; Introduction Mankind has always pondered upon its own existence

• valuable insights into the origin of life and the emergence of species, but it could also pave the way towards the realization of synthetic life. In biology, Darwinian evolution in a chemical system can be considered to be the result of an interplay of the three different processes that are summarized in