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EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

The early origin of cooperation

The physical linkage of the first self-replicating molecules is likely to have been selected based on their capacity to perform cooperative catalysis.

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Fig. 1: Molecular cooperation at different levels of complexity.

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Correspondence to Joana C. Xavier.

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Xavier, J.C. The early origin of cooperation. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 18–19 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1075-z

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