adoptase

Adoptase is a term used in speculative biology and science fiction to describe a hypothetical catalyst that governs the initiation and stabilization of adoptive bonds between biological or synthetic agents. The name combines adopt with the common enzyme suffix -ase. In the imagined framework, adoptase acts as a ligase-like protein that recognizes matching compatibility markers on two entities and promotes their covalent or quasi-covalent linkage, creating a durable bond analogous to adoption in social terms. The operation is described as context-dependent, requiring co-factors that mimic regulatory signals, environmental cues, and ethical constraints in the story or model.

In literature and thought experiments, adoptase is used as a metaphor to explore themes of kinship, social integration, and the ethics of engineered relationships. It serves as a pedagogical tool to discuss how catalysts influence network dynamics, bond formation rates, and stability in complex systems. Proponents emphasize its utility in illustrating the limits of biological analogies for social processes, while critics note that it risks conflating literal biochemistry with sociocultural phenomena.

Origin and usage: The term has appeared in speculative essays and fiction since the early 2020s, and there is no empirical evidence for an actual adoptase in real biochemistry.

See also: ligase, enzyme metaphor, adoption ethics, network theory.