Kurihara Kensuke, Okura Yusaku, Matsuo Muneyuki, Toyota Taro, Suzuki Kentaro, Sugawara Tadashi
Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
Research Center for Complex Systems Biology, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
Nat Commun. 2015 Sep 29;6:8352. doi: 10.1038/ncomms9352.
Self-organized lipid structures (protocells) have been proposed as an intermediate between nonliving material and cellular life. Synthetic production of model protocells can demonstrate the potential processes by which living cells first arose. While we have previously described a giant vesicle (GV)-based model protocell in which amplification of DNA was linked to self-reproduction, the ability of a protocell to recursively self-proliferate for multiple generations has not been demonstrated. Here we show that newborn daughter GVs can be restored to the status of their parental GVs by pH-induced vesicular fusion of daughter GVs with conveyer GVs filled with depleted substrates. We describe a primitive model cell cycle comprising four discrete phases (ingestion, replication, maturity and division), each of which is selectively activated by a specific external stimulus. The production of recursive self-proliferating model protocells represents a step towards eventual production of model protocells that are able to mimic evolution.
自组织脂质结构（原细胞）被认为是无生命物质与细胞生命之间的中间体。合成模型原细胞可以展示活细胞最初产生的潜在过程。虽然我们之前描述了一种基于巨型囊泡（GV）的模型原细胞，其中DNA的扩增与自我复制相关联，但原细胞进行多代递归自我增殖的能力尚未得到证实。在这里，我们表明，通过pH诱导子代GV与充满耗尽底物的输送GV的囊泡融合，新生的子代GV可以恢复到其亲代GV的状态。我们描述了一个原始的模型细胞周期，它包括四个离散阶段（摄取、复制、成熟和分裂），每个阶段都由特定的外部刺激选择性激活。递归自我增殖模型原细胞的产生代表了朝着最终生产能够模拟进化的模型原细胞迈出的一步。
