Dynamical hierarchies of structure and control in chemical reaction networks

摘要

This paper presents the concept of dynamicalhierarchies as a constructional and organizational principle inbiomolecular materials design. Simple objects, characterized viaa minimal set of explicit properties, self-organize into aggregates(higher-order objects) which show emergent properties(function)that are not explicitly encoded on level of theindividual chemical elements but are implicitly generated via thesystem dynamics.Object aggregation may span various levels of complexity,which are linked by both, up-and downward causalities, forminga unique organizational element; a dynamical hierarchy. Thisorganization of individual objects is characterized by multiplelevels of constructional complexity accompanied by respectiveemergent properties and overall, stabilized by implicit control.This concept is well suited to design multicomponent chemicalaggregates or chemical reaction networks with complex functionality.We present the lattice molecular automaton (LMA) tosimulate the generation of dynamical hierarchies in chemicalsystems. This simulation tool encodes chemical objects(substrates, enzymes, products) as data structures storing theirexplicit properties as well as object-object communication data.These two attributes are accessed by an update functional drivingthe system dynamics.We present LMA simulation results on dynamical hierarchies ofstructure and control in chemical reaction networks and discusstheir implications for chemical information processing devices.