Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system
Autocatalytic chemical reactions are widely studied as models of biological processes and to better understand the origins of life on earth. Minimal self-reproducing amphiphiles have been developed in this context, and as an approach to de novo ‘bottom-up’ synthetic protocells. How chemicals come to...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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National Academy of Science
2016
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| _version_ | 1797052432431185920 |
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| author | Ortega-Arroyo, J Bissette, A Kukura, P Fletcher, S |
| author_facet | Ortega-Arroyo, J Bissette, A Kukura, P Fletcher, S |
| author_sort | Ortega-Arroyo, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Autocatalytic chemical reactions are widely studied as models of biological processes and to better understand the origins of life on earth. Minimal self-reproducing amphiphiles have been developed in this context, and as an approach to de novo ‘bottom-up’ synthetic protocells. How chemicals come together to produce living systems remains poorly understood, despite much experimentation and speculation. Here, we use ultrasensitive label-free optical microscopy to visualize the spontaneous emergence of an autocatalytic system from an aqueous mixture of two chemicals. Quantitative, in situ nanoscale imaging reveals heterogeneous self-reproducing aggregates and enables the real-time visualization of the synthesis of new aggregates at the reactive interface. The aggregates and reactivity patterns observed vary together with differences in the respective environment. This work demonstrates how imaging of chemistry at the nanoscale can provide direct insight into the dynamic evolution of non-thermodynamically controlled systems across molecular to microscopic length scales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:31:28Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:09cad8af-0bc2-49dc-aa98-3f019a8e06ce |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:31:28Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | National Academy of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:09cad8af-0bc2-49dc-aa98-3f019a8e06ce2022-03-26T09:20:17ZVisualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic systemJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:09cad8af-0bc2-49dc-aa98-3f019a8e06ceSymplectic Elements at OxfordNational Academy of Science2016Ortega-Arroyo, JBissette, AKukura, PFletcher, SAutocatalytic chemical reactions are widely studied as models of biological processes and to better understand the origins of life on earth. Minimal self-reproducing amphiphiles have been developed in this context, and as an approach to de novo ‘bottom-up’ synthetic protocells. How chemicals come together to produce living systems remains poorly understood, despite much experimentation and speculation. Here, we use ultrasensitive label-free optical microscopy to visualize the spontaneous emergence of an autocatalytic system from an aqueous mixture of two chemicals. Quantitative, in situ nanoscale imaging reveals heterogeneous self-reproducing aggregates and enables the real-time visualization of the synthesis of new aggregates at the reactive interface. The aggregates and reactivity patterns observed vary together with differences in the respective environment. This work demonstrates how imaging of chemistry at the nanoscale can provide direct insight into the dynamic evolution of non-thermodynamically controlled systems across molecular to microscopic length scales. |
| spellingShingle | Ortega-Arroyo, J Bissette, A Kukura, P Fletcher, S Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system |
| title | Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system |
| title_full | Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system |
| title_fullStr | Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system |
| title_short | Visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex, dynamic, and autocatalytic system |
| title_sort | visualization of the spontaneous emergence of a complex dynamic and autocatalytic system |
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