How could the first living systems learn to regulate themselves before the emergence of genes? In their new paper, Ben Shirt-Ediss, Arián Ferrero-Fernández, Daniele De Martino, Leonardo Bich, Álvaro Moreno, and Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo tackle this question through Araudia, a novel simulation platform for studying protocell evolution. They show that simple protocell ecologies, composed of metabolically diverse micro-reactors, can spontaneously develop second-order regulatory mechanisms—rudimentary forms of prebiotic agency. By extending consumer–resource models with stochastic evolutionary dynamics and “short-term memory,” the study reveals how adaptive, lac-operon-like behaviors could emerge even before genetics, marking a key step toward understanding the transition from chemistry to life.
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