AI Article Synopsis
- Contemporary biological cells are intricate systems that maintain a boundary to regulate the exchange of substances and energy with their surroundings, a crucial aspect of all life forms.
- Scientists have theorized about the development of prebiotic compartments on early Earth, creating models of these systems called "protocells" to understand their potential characteristics and behaviors.
- The article also discusses the chemical building blocks necessary for forming these early cell-like compartments and highlights important aspects of the chemical landscape present on the early Earth.
Article Abstract
Contemporary biological cells are highly sophisticated dynamic compartment systems which separate an internal volume from the external medium through a boundary, which controls, in complex ways, the exchange of matter and energy between the cell's interior and the environment. Since such compartmentalization is a fundamental principle of all forms of life, scenarios have been elaborated about the emergence of prebiological compartments on early Earth, in particular about their likely structural characteristics and dynamic features. Chemical systems that consist of potentially prebiological compartments and chemical reaction networks have been designed to model pre-cellular systems. These systems are often referred to as "protocells". Past and current protocell model systems are presented and compared. Since the prebiotic formation of cell-like compartments is directly linked to the prebiotic availability of compartment building blocks, a few aspects on the likely chemical inventory on the early Earth are also summarized.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4500137 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life5021239 | DOI Listing |
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