Article 4. Memory Theory: Enzyme Formation

Previous papers in the series described the fundamental mechanisms of physical memory recording and storage, as well as their role in abiogenesis and enzyme evolution. However, the question of the nature of the relationship between the evolution of enzymes and the evolution of memory remained open. The present article proposes the cyclic causation hypothesis, according to which enzymes and memory are not independent entities, but form a single self-sustaining system. Memory (fixation of the state through carbomorphosis) creates enzymes as carriers of catalytic conformations; enzymes, in turn, catalyze the replication and modification of memory carriers (DNA, RNA, proteins), providing more complex memory. This creates a positive feedback loop in which each complication of enzymes leads to a complication of memory and vice versa. It has been shown that without enzymes, memory cannot become more complex (there is no catalysis for replication and mutations), and without memory, enzymes cannot evolve (there is no fixation of conformations and inheritance). The transition to a carbon base (protein enzymes) gave a jump in efficiency by 10⁸–10¹² times, which became the driving force behind the further evolution of memory. Experimental criteria for testing the hypothesis are proposed. The work completes the logical outline of memory theory, showing that life is a self-sustaining system in which memory and enzymes mutually condition each other.