  For understanding the origin of life, it is essential to explain the
development of a compartmentalized structure, which undergoes growth and
division, from a set of chemical reactions. In this study, a hypercycle with
two chemicals that mutually catalyze each other is considered in order to show
that the reproduction of a protocell with a growth-division process naturally
occurs when the replication speed of one chemical is considerably slower than
that of the other chemical. It is observed that the protocell divides after a
minority molecule is replicated at a slow synthesis rate, and thus, a synchrony
between the reproduction of a cell and molecule replication is achieved. The
robustness of such protocells against the invasion of parasitic molecules is
also demonstrated.

Cell Behavior;Statistical Mechanics;Biological Physics