Synthetic protocell biology: from reproduction to computation
Open accessAbstract
Cells are the building blocks of biological complexity. They are complex systems sustained by the coordinated cooperative dynamics of several biochemical networks. Their replication, adaptation and computational features emerge as a consequence of appropriate molecular feedbacks that somehow define what life is. As the last decades have brought the transition from the description-driven biology to the synthesis-driven biology, one great challenge shared by both the fields of bioengineering and the origin of life is to find the appropriate conditions under which living cellular structures can effectively emerge and persist. Here, we review current knowledge (both theoretical and experimental) on possible scenarios of artificial cell design and their future challenges.
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Energy minimization of the bending energy of a closed amphiphile assembly provides a wide range of possible shapes, from highly stable spheres to metastable states with local negative curvature required for cell division.
“Energy minimization, as defined from the solutions of δHb=0, provides a wide range of possible shapes, from highly stable (spheres, for example, with only positive curvature) to others displaying metastable states that imply the presence of local negative curvature (required when cell division occurs) [163,164].”
From Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems (2024) · cites this paper as [163]
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Prebiotic Systems Chemistry: New Perspectives for the Origins of Life
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Self-citationFundamental constraints to the logic of living systems
Solé, R., Kempes, C. P., Corominas-Murtra, B., De Domenico, M., Kolchinsky, A., Lachmann, M., Libby, E., Saavedra, S., Smith, E., & Wolpert, D. (2024) · Interface Focus · doi:10.1098/rsfs.2024.0010 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
“…as defined from the solutions of δℋ b = 0, provides a wide range of possible shapes, from highly stable (spheres, for example, with only positive curvature) to others displaying metastable states that imply the presence of local negative curvature (required when cell division occurs) [163,164].”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Solé, R. V., Munteanu, A., Rodriguez-Caso, C., & Macía, J.
- Affiliations
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ES)
- ICREA-Complex Systems Lab, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (GRIB)Dr Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
- Corresponding author
- Solé, Ricard V
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2007-05
- Volume
- 362
- Issue
- 1486
- Pages
- 1727-1739
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC2442389
- OpenAlex
- W2127723087
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 0.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Santa Fe Institute
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computational Theory and Mathematics › Cellular Automata and Applications
- Keywords
- synthetic protocells, artificial cells, origin of life, cell replication, synthetic biology, bioengineering
- MeSH terms
- Biology, Cell Membrane, Cell Physiological Phenomena, Computer Simulation, Models, Biological
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