Self-maintenance and Self-reproduction in an Abstract Cell Model

✍ Scribed by NAOAKI ONO; TAKASHI IKEGAMI

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 221 KB
• Volume: 206
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.2000.2121

✦ Synopsis

Living cells must maintain their membranes by active metabolism. The membrane is not static but a dynamic structure that has evolved along with its internal reactions. When we re#ect on the emergence and evolution of primitive cells, we should not forget the mutual dependency between membranes and metabolic cycles inside the cell. In this paper, we present a simple abstract model of the self-maintaining cell. A metabolic cycle will produce a self-assembling membrane that will enclose the metabolic cycle. We show that a self-maintaining cell has the potential to reproduce itself spontaneously. Further, we have demonstrated two di!erent ways of cellular reproduction depending on the mobility of chemicals. In the "rst case, a cell releases autocatalytic chemicals that create new cells outside the mother cell. In the second case, a cell grows larger and divides itself into daughter cells by creating a new internal dividing membrane.