Fig. 2From: Prebiotic competition and evolution in self-replicating polynucleotides can explain the properties of DNA/RNA in modern living systems(top) An illustration of bidirectional self-replication. Symmetric kinetic influence helps in bidirectional strand construction and requires left-right symmetric monomers. (Bottom) Structural instantiation of asymmetric cooperativity requires left-right asymmetric polymers to distinguish between left and right. Asymmetric monomers instantiate asymmetric cooperativity and thus simultaneously satisfy the two conflicting requirements of fast monomer acquisition and their retention for successful self-replication. This leads to the evolutionary superiority of unidirectional self-replicatorsBack to article page