linked to from footnotes file: n_miscGlossary.php#Beings.
Metasystems are formed by the integration of initially independent components into new, goal-directed individuals that act in coordinated ways to protect themselves and reproduce. Apart from their theoretical applications (e.g. hypercycles), metasystems include, for instance, single cells integrated into multicellular individuals (e.g social amoebae and other eukaryote beings) and the assemblies of modular individuals, such as jellyfish, hives and societial entities.refs The coordination of the cells in these metasystems is achieved through broadcasting — endosemiotically within tightly bonded systems, through endocrine/acrasia, immune and neural systems, and exosemiotically within homologous systems, for instance through vocal, positional and other cues, or through systems that are analogous to these, such as radio.
The hypercycle is a cycle of connected, self-replicating macromolecules linked so that each catalyses the creation of its successor, with the last molecule catalysing the first. In such a manner, the cycle reinforces itself. .. each molecule is a subject for self-replication. The resultant system is a new level of self-organization that incorporates both cooperation and selfishness. .. it explained how life on Earth could have begun using only relatively short genetic sequences, which in theory are too short to store all essential information. .. hypercycles could originate naturally and .. are subject to evolution .. not only does the system gain information, but its information content can be improved. .. In 2012, the first experimental proof for the emergence of a cooperative network among fragments of self-assembling ribozymes was published, .. this experiment proves the existence of cooperation among the ribozymes, (but is not an experimental proof of the hypercycle).
see: Wikipedia, "Hypercycles".