Evolution of Evolvable Systems (EVOEVO)

After the successful application for an ERC advanced grant the project implementation phase started in July 2012 and ran till June 2017.

The project has three pillars, linked to one another by thought pattern transfer from different scientific traditions, including major transitions, formal chemistry and replicator dynamics. In the first pillar, critically strengthened by the participation of the Co-PI Andrew Griffiths (Strasbourg) we will use a unique multi-disciplinary approach, combining physics, chemistry and biology, and using droplets in microfluidic systems as analogues or protocells, to theoretically and experimentally investigate the emergence of RNA replicators, their cooperation in protocells and the origin of chromosomes. This includes simulation of the emergence of larger genomes and the computational analysis of coevolution of the latter with membrane properties, and a transition from an RNA-based metabolism to one based on catalysis by proteins.
In the second pillar we investigate the origin of the adaptive immune system. The defining characteristic of adaptive immunity is the ability to shape the targeting of immune reactions during the lifespan of the individual, which occurs by an evolutionary process based on the random generation and selection of immune receptor specificities. The evolution of adaptive immunity can thus be regarded as the “evolution of evolvability” within a population of immune systems, and it also constitutes a major transition in the way in which information is transmitted between cell generations. The transition involved the emergence of a new level of selection (competition of lymphocyte clones) and a shift from limited to unlimited heredity in the immune repertoire. We aim to throw new light on how and why this happened.
In the third pillar we propose that replicators exist in the brain, and that such replicators underwent a transition from limited to unlimited heredity in a manner analogous to the transition from attractor-based (metabolic) to template-based (genetic) inheritance in the origin of life. Once such a replicator-based dynamic is in place, principles from evolutionary biology and population genetics can be applied to neuroscience. We shall focus on possible evolutionary dynamics within the brain rather than on the genetic preconditions that make this possible, in order to better understand some key cognitive faculties like model-based reinforcement learning, insight and language.

Principal Investigator

Eörs Szathmáry

Director of the Parmenides Center for the Conceptual Foundations of Science
Academia Europaea and Hungarian Academy of Sciences member
guest professor @ LMU Munich

Co-Principal Investigator

Andrew Griffiths
Prof. Premier Class
École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris, France

EVOEVO Publications

• R.A. Watson, E. Szathmáry (2015). How can evolution learn? Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Under review.

• H. P. de Vladar, E. Szathmáry (2015). Neuronal boost to evolutionary dynamics. Royal Society. Under review.

• T. Filk (2015). Non-Classical Probabilities from Pilot Wave Models. Under review.

• T. Filk (2015). Non-Classical Probabilities in Pilot Wave Models and Neural Networks. Under review.

• A. Fedor, E. Szathmáry, M. Öllinger (2015). Problem solving stages in the five square problem. Frontiers in Psychology. Vol.6.

• V. Vasas, C. Fernando, A. Szilágyi, I. Zachar, M. Santos, E. Szathmáry (2015). Primordial evolvability: Impasses and challenges Journal of Theoretical Biology, 381, 29–38.

• E. Szathmáry (2015). Towards major evolutionary transitions theory 2.0. PNAS, 112:33.

• T. Czárán, B. Könnyü, E. Szathmáry (2015). Metabolically Coupled Replicator Systems: Overview of an RNA-world model concept of prebiotic evolution on mineral surfaces. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 381, 39–54.

• B. Könnyü, A. Szilágyi, T. Czárán (2015). In silico ribozyme evolution in a metabolically coupled RNA population. Biology Direct. 10:30.

• A. Kun, A. Szilágyi, B. Könnyü, G. Boza, I. Zachar, E. Szathmáry (2015). The dynamics of the RNA world: insights and challenges. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1341, 75-95.

• A. Kun, E. Szathmáry (2015). Fitness Landscapes of Functional RNAs. Life. Vol. 5. 1497-1517.

• M. Santos, E. Szathmáry, J. F. Fontanari (2015). Phenotypic plasticity, the Baldwin effect, and the speeding up of evolution: The computational roots of an illusion. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 371, 127–136.

• T. Filk (2015). A mechanical model of a PR-Box. ArXiv:1507.06789v1 [quant-ph].

• M. Leman, F. Abouakil, A. D. Griffiths, P. Tabeling (2015). Droplet-based microfluidics at the femtolitre scale. Lab Chip,15, 753-765.

• M. Ryckelynck, S. Baudrey, C. Rick, A. Marin, F. Coldren, E. Westhof, A. D. Griffiths (2015). Using droplet-based microfluidics to improve the catalytic properties of RNA under multiple-turnover conditions. RNA, 21, 458–469.

• A. Fallah-Araghi, K. Meguellati, J-C. Baret, A. El Harrak, T. Mangeat, M. Karplus, S. Ladame, C. M. Marques, A. D. Griffiths (2014). Enhanced Chemical Synthesis at Soft Interfaces: A Universal Reaction-Adsorption Mechanism in Microcompartments. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112.

• L. Mazutis, J. Gilbert, W.L., Ung, D.A. Weitz, A.D. Griffiths and J.A. Heyman (2013). Single-cell analysis and sorting using droplet-based microfluidics. Nature Protocols 8, 870–891.

• M. Najah, E. Mayot, I.P., Mahendra-Wijaya, A.D. Griffiths, S. Ladame and A. Drevelle (2013). New glycosidase substrates for droplet-based microfluidic screening. Anal. Chem. 85, 9807–9814.

• V. Taly, D. Pekin, L. Benhaim, S.K. Kotsopoulos, D. Le Corre, X. Li, I. Atochin, D.R. Link, A.D. Griffiths, K. Pallier, H. Blons, O. Bouche, B. Landi, J.B. Hutchison and P. Laurent-Puig (2013). Multiplex Picodroplet Digital PCR to Detect KRAS Mutations in Circulating DNA from the Plasma of Colorectal Cancer Patients. Clin. Chem. 59, 1722-1731.

• E. Szathmáry (2013). On the propagation of a conceptual error concerning hypercycles and cooperation. Journal of Systems Chemistry, 4:1.

• A. Szilágyi, A. Kun, E. Szathmáry (2012). Early evolution of efficient enzymes and genome organization. Biol Direct, 7: 38.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Conferences

• IFP Energies Nouvelles, Paris, France, 12 November 2013

• Novartis, Basel, Switzerland, 6 November 2013

• IGBMC, Strasbourg, 5 July 2013

• X-Biotech, Mines ParisTech, 27 May 2013

• Kymab, Babraham, UK, 9 April 2013

• Sanofi, Alfortville, France, 6 February 2013

• BioMérieux, Lyon, France, 19 November 2012

• GSK, Stevenage, UK, 25 October 2012

• BioRad, Paris, France, 26 September 2012