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Replication of self is a fundamental aspect of life that scientists have only begun to emulate in the laboratory on a molecular level. Examples of self-replicating systems include nucleotide-based oligomers, 1-3 adenine-Kemp’s triacid conjugates, 4 peptides, 5 and micelles. 6 The development of molecular systems that link self-replication and natural selection has been a more elusive target. 1d, 2c Recent work of Lee et al. demonstrated that peptides from the GCN4 leucine zipper domain self-replicate in an autocatalytic cycle. 5 We sought a peptidic self-replicating system that would be sensitive to environmental conditions and reproduce only under extreme conditions. We now disclose a peptide sequence capable of replication of self from two peptide fragments in an autocatalytic, pH-dependent manner.

We designed a peptide, E1E2 (Figure 1), based on the peptide of Zhou et al.(EE). 7 Like EE, E1E2 was designed …