
A depiction of autocatalytic closure, according to Irish artificial life researcher James Decreane, where in A: simple collectively autocatalytic reaction network, where the species x1 catalyzes the production of x2. Similarly the production of x3 and x1 can be catalyzed by x2 and x3 respectively, forming/closing the autocatalytic loop; in B: A three element hypercycle, in contrast to collectively autocatalytic reaction networks, individual molecular species are capable of self-production in hypercycles. [3]

A depiction of autocatalytic closure, according to Irish artificial life researcher James Decreane, where in A: simple collectively autocatalytic reaction network, where the species x1 catalyzes the production of x2. Similarly the production of x3 and x1 can be catalyzed by x2 and x3 respectively, forming/closing the autocatalytic loop; in B: A three element hypercycle, in contrast to collectively autocatalytic reaction networks, individual molecular species are capable of self-production in hypercycles. [3]

In theories, auto-catalytic closure, or "autocatalytic set theory", is a physical science based origin of life explanation which argues that "dead" individual molecular species A, B, and C, become "alive" once catalytic closure among them is achieved and they are able to complete one thermodynamic cycle. [1]

The model is a variant of the 1920s autocatalysis theory, and was first proposed by American Stuart Kauffman in his 1993 The Origins of Order and the expanded on in a number of books to follow as a pervading principle germane to life. [2]

See also
● Perpetual motion of the living kind

References
1. Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One) (pg. 133). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
2. Kaufmann, Stuart. (1993). The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution (catalytic closure, 26+ pgs). Oxford University Press.
3. Decraene, James (2009) Autocatalytic Closure and the Evolution of Cellular Information Processing Networks (abs). PhD thesis, Dublin City University.

External links
● Autocatalytic set – Wikipedia.