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Biology and Medical
Self-replicating artificial cell?
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[QUOTE="BillTre, post: 6493015, member: 581757"] One interpretation of a possible, simple but functioning cell, would require a metabolism which can extract energy and materials from its environment to make its own components, eventually increasing its size until it divides (replication). A simple model of like this could be like Gánti's [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemoton']chemoton[/URL]: [ATTACH type="full"]283089[/ATTACH] Gánti hypothesizes (or originally did) 3 auto-catalytic chemical cycles, one each for: basic metabolism, membrane molecule synthesis, and replication of its assembly instructions (like DNA or RNA). There is no obvious (to me) need for all three cycles to be auto-catalytic at life's initiation. Seems like an auto-catalytic metabolic cycle should be able to drive the other two. It is not clear where in this multi-step process, the threshold between living and not-yet-living is. Test systems have been made of Amphiphile (molecules with a changed hydrophilic end and a non-charged lipophilic end) enclosed compartments containing nucleic acids. When the nucleic acids were replicated the vesicles divided. Here is a recent [URL='https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43367-4']ref.[/URL] using this approach. This seems close to the kind of approach you mentioned. This not an artificial cell, its just a model system of a cell. It lacks the metabolism necessary to sustain itself and the ability to replicate its own assembly instructions, but it does link nucleic replication with vesicle division. [/QUOTE]
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Self-replicating artificial cell?
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