Negative scaling relationship between molecular diversity and resource abundances.

Abstract

Cell reproduction involves replication of diverse molecule species, in contrast to a simple replication system with fewer components. To address this question of diversity, we study theoretically a cell system with catalytic reaction dynamics that grows by uptake of environmental resources. It is shown that limited resources lead to increased diversity of components within the system, and the number of coexisting species increases with a negative power of the resource uptake. The relationship is explained from the optimum growth speed of the cell, determined by a tradeoff between the utility of diverse resources and the concentration onto fewer components to increase the reaction rate.