dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSynthetic Turing protocells: vesicle self-reproduction through symmetry-breaking instabilities
| Authors | J. Macia, R. V. Sole |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0607035 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0607035 |
Abstract
The reproduction of a living cell requires a repeatable set of chemical events to be properly coordinated. Such events define a replication cycle, coupling the growth and shape change of the cell membrane with internal metabolic reactions. Although the logic of such process is determined by potentially simple physico-chemical laws, the modeling of a full, self-maintained cell cycle is not trivial. Here we present a novel approach to the problem which makes use of so called symmetry breaking instabilities as the engine of cell growth and division. It is shown that the process occurs as a consequence of the breaking of spatial symmetry and provides a reliable mechanism of vesicle growth and reproduction. Our model opens the possibility of a synthetic protocell lacking information but displaying self-reproduction under a very simple set of chemical reactions.
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"abstract": "The reproduction of a living cell requires a repeatable set of chemical\nevents to be properly coordinated. Such events define a replication cycle,\ncoupling the growth and shape change of the cell membrane with internal\nmetabolic reactions. Although the logic of such process is determined by\npotentially simple physico-chemical laws, the modeling of a full,\nself-maintained cell cycle is not trivial. Here we present a novel approach to\nthe problem which makes use of so called symmetry breaking instabilities as the\nengine of cell growth and division. It is shown that the process occurs as a\nconsequence of the breaking of spatial symmetry and provides a reliable\nmechanism of vesicle growth and reproduction. Our model opens the possibility\nof a synthetic protocell lacking information but displaying self-reproduction\nunder a very simple set of chemical reactions.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0607035",
"authors": [
"J. Macia",
"R. V. Sole"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.CB"
],
"title": "Synthetic Turing protocells: vesicle self-reproduction through symmetry-breaking instabilities",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0607035"
},
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"type": "Model",
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