Researchers Find Missing Component in Effort to Create Primitive, Synthetic Cells

An illustration of protocell, composed of a fatty acid membrane encapsulating RNA ribozymes

 

A team of investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital is trying to create “protocells”. These cells are primitive synthetic cells, which have a nucleic acid strand enclosed within a membrane-bound compartment. This is an important initial step that was accomplished toward their objective. They were able to discover a solution to the “potential incompatibility between a chemical requirement of RNA copying and the stability of the protocell membrane.” The process enabled the scientists to do nonenzymatic RNA copying inside the fatty acid vesicles. It appears that by replicating what a cell looked like, they have possibility unlocked the mystery of the origin of cellular life.

In order to determine the problem the scientists tested the need for MG and the RNA molecule with the ion’s ability to degrade fatty acid membranes. Further investigation addressed which chelators could help the process. They tested each chelator to see if RNA assembly would occur. They discovered that the chelator protects the membrane which allows the RNA copying. This process was successful in laboratory conditions, but one must consider what conditions existed millions of years ago.

Finding this solution to how the first cells developed could establish alternative medial options for illnesses with unknown cures.  This also might aid scientists to determine how human cells will evolve in the future.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131128141401.htm 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/mgh-rfa112213.php

 

http://exploringorigins.org/protocells.htmlA