The DOI matches its Crossref record; 19 of the 20 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Emergence of Competition Between Model Protocells
Open accessAbstract
The transition from independent molecular entities to cellular structures with integrated behaviors was a crucial aspect of the origin of life. We show that simple physical principles can mediate a coordinated interaction between genome and compartment boundary, independent of any genomic functions beyond self-replication. RNA, encapsulated in fatty acid vesicles, exerts an osmotic pressure on the vesicle membrane that drives the uptake of additional membrane components, leading to membrane growth at the expense of relaxed vesicles, which shrink. Thus, more efficient RNA replication could cause faster cell growth, leading to the emergence of Darwinian evolution at the cellular level.
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“The gel aggregate enables protocell-to-protocell interaction (Chen et al., 2004; Adamala and Szostak, 2013a, 2013b) through a form of network selection and niche construction (Odling-Smee et al., 2003).”
From The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life (2020) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2004
In the citing paper
“Protocells are cell-sized compartments whose interiors enable molecular crowding and when aggregated together they provide an ideal environment for selection through passive forms of protocell competition (Chen et al., 2004; Adamala and Szostak, 2013a).”
From The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life (2020) · cites this paper as Chen et al., 2004
In the citing paper
“The first experimental demonstration of competition between protocells arose from studies of osmotically driven growth (Chen et al. 2004).”
From Protocells and RNA Self-Replication (2018) · cites this paper as Chen et al. 2004
In the citing paper
“Since membranes are generally impermeable to macromolecules, internal RNA polymerization would raise osmotic pressures and cause protocell growth at the expense of inactive vesicles [175].”
From The RNA world as a model system to study the origin of life (2015) · cites this paper as [175]
Citations
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Flagged first, then by citations
1 of the 20 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- H. J. Morowitz Beginnings of Cellular Life (Yale Univ. Press New Haven CT 1992).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
A vesicle bioreactor as a step toward an artificial cell assembly
Noireaux, V., & Libchaber, A. (2004) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0408236101 · Cited by 1,152
Prebiotic Systems Chemistry: New Perspectives for the Origins of Life
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Self-citationThe RNA World: molecular cooperation at the origins of life
Higgs, P. G., & Lehman, N. (2015) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg3841 · Cited by 604
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Metadata
- Authors
- Chen, I. A., Roberts, R. W., & Szostak, J. W.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Szostak, Jack W.
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2004-09-03
- Volume
- 305
- Issue
- 5689
- Pages
- 1474-1476
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- PMC
- PMC4484590
- OpenAlex
- W2166637067
- Cited by
- 435
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 9.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32-GM08313, T32GM008313, T32 GM07753, T32GM007753)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Keywords
- origin of life, protocells, RNA replication, fatty acid vesicles, osmotic pressure, membrane growth, compartment boundaries, Darwinian evolution, cell growth
- MeSH terms
- Cell Physiological Phenomena, Biological Evolution, Fatty Acids, Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated, Liposomes, Osmotic Pressure, RNA, RNA, Transfer, Genome, Oleic Acid, Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
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