Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells
Minimal artificial cells (MACs) are self-assembled chemical systems able to mimic the behavior of living cells at a minimal level, i.e. to exhibit self-maintenance, self-reproduction and the capability of evolution. The bottom-up approach to the construction of MACs is mainly based on the encapsula...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2014-05-01
|
| Series: | Entropy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/16/5/2488 |
| _version_ | 1798025884004777984 |
|---|---|
| author | Fabio Mavelli Emiliano Altamura Luigi Cassidei Pasquale Stano |
| author_facet | Fabio Mavelli Emiliano Altamura Luigi Cassidei Pasquale Stano |
| author_sort | Fabio Mavelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Minimal artificial cells (MACs) are self-assembled chemical systems able to mimic the behavior of living cells at a minimal level, i.e. to exhibit self-maintenance, self-reproduction and the capability of evolution. The bottom-up approach to the construction of MACs is mainly based on the encapsulation of chemical reacting systems inside lipid vesicles, i.e. chemical systems enclosed (compartmentalized) by a double-layered lipid membrane. Several researchers are currently interested in synthesizing such simple cellular models for biotechnological purposes or for investigating origin of life scenarios. Within this context, the properties of lipid vesicles (e.g., their stability, permeability, growth dynamics, potential to host reactions or undergo division processes…) play a central role, in combination with the dynamics of the encapsulated chemical or biochemical networks. Thus, from a theoretical standpoint, it is very important to develop kinetic equations in order to explore first—and specify later—the conditions that allow the robust implementation of these complex chemically reacting systems, as well as their controlled reproduction. Due to being compartmentalized in small volumes, the population of reacting molecules can be very low in terms of the number of molecules and therefore their behavior becomes highly affected by stochastic effects both in the time course of reactions and in occupancy distribution among the vesicle population. In this short review we report our mathematical approaches to model artificial cell systems in this complex scenario by giving a summary of three recent simulations studies on the topic of primitive cell (protocell) systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:26:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2508f201da534352ade8679e9fbfc471 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1099-4300 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:26:07Z |
| publishDate | 2014-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Entropy |
| spelling | doaj.art-2508f201da534352ade8679e9fbfc4712022-12-22T04:09:37ZengMDPI AGEntropy1099-43002014-05-011652488251110.3390/e16052488e16052488Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial CellsFabio Mavelli0Emiliano Altamura1Luigi Cassidei2Pasquale Stano3Chemistry Department, University Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4–70125 Bari, ItalyChemistry Department, University Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4–70125 Bari, ItalyChemistry Department, University Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4–70125 Bari, ItalyScience Department, Roma Tre University, Viale G. Marconi 446–00146 Rome, ItalyMinimal artificial cells (MACs) are self-assembled chemical systems able to mimic the behavior of living cells at a minimal level, i.e. to exhibit self-maintenance, self-reproduction and the capability of evolution. The bottom-up approach to the construction of MACs is mainly based on the encapsulation of chemical reacting systems inside lipid vesicles, i.e. chemical systems enclosed (compartmentalized) by a double-layered lipid membrane. Several researchers are currently interested in synthesizing such simple cellular models for biotechnological purposes or for investigating origin of life scenarios. Within this context, the properties of lipid vesicles (e.g., their stability, permeability, growth dynamics, potential to host reactions or undergo division processes…) play a central role, in combination with the dynamics of the encapsulated chemical or biochemical networks. Thus, from a theoretical standpoint, it is very important to develop kinetic equations in order to explore first—and specify later—the conditions that allow the robust implementation of these complex chemically reacting systems, as well as their controlled reproduction. Due to being compartmentalized in small volumes, the population of reacting molecules can be very low in terms of the number of molecules and therefore their behavior becomes highly affected by stochastic effects both in the time course of reactions and in occupancy distribution among the vesicle population. In this short review we report our mathematical approaches to model artificial cell systems in this complex scenario by giving a summary of three recent simulations studies on the topic of primitive cell (protocell) systems.http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/16/5/2488autopoiesislipid vesiclesself-reproductionprotocellsstochastic simulationsosmotic synchronization |
| spellingShingle | Fabio Mavelli Emiliano Altamura Luigi Cassidei Pasquale Stano Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells Entropy autopoiesis lipid vesicles self-reproduction protocells stochastic simulations osmotic synchronization |
| title | Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells |
| title_full | Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells |
| title_fullStr | Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells |
| title_short | Recent Theoretical Approaches to Minimal Artificial Cells |
| title_sort | recent theoretical approaches to minimal artificial cells |
| topic | autopoiesis lipid vesicles self-reproduction protocells stochastic simulations osmotic synchronization |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/16/5/2488 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fabiomavelli recenttheoreticalapproachestominimalartificialcells AT emilianoaltamura recenttheoreticalapproachestominimalartificialcells AT luigicassidei recenttheoreticalapproachestominimalartificialcells AT pasqualestano recenttheoreticalapproachestominimalartificialcells |