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Models of protocellular structures, functions and evolution
| Content Provider | NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) |
|---|---|
| Author | Pohorille, Andrew New, Michael H. |
| Copyright Year | 2000 |
| Description | The central step in the origin of life was the emergence of organized structures from organic molecules available on the early earth. These predecessors to modern cells, called 'proto-cells,' were simple, membrane bounded structures able to maintain themselves, grow, divide, and evolve. Since there is no fossil record of these earliest of life forms, it is a scientific challenge to discover plausible mechanisms for how these entities formed and functioned. To meet this challenge, it is essential to create laboratory models of protocells that capture the main attributes associated with living systems, while remaining consistent with known, or inferred, protobiological conditions. This report provides an overview of a project which has focused on protocellular metabolism and the coupling of metabolism to energy transduction. We have assumed that the emergence of systems endowed with genomes and capable of Darwinian evolution was preceded by a pre-genomic phase, in which protocells functioned and evolved using mostly proteins, without self-replicating nucleic acids such as RNA. |
| File Size | 407392 |
| File Format | |
| Language | English |
| Publisher Date | 2000-10-04 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Proteins Protobiology Cells Biology Biological Evolution Cell Membranes Biology Genetics Metabolism Ntrs Nasa Technical Reports Server (ntrs) Nasa Technical Reports Server Aerodynamics Aircraft Aerospace Engineering Aerospace Aeronautic Space Science |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
