Protocells [[electronic resource] ] : bridging nonliving and living matter / / edited by Steen Rasmussen ... [et al.]

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910454603303321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge, Mass., : MIT Press, c2009
• ISBN: 0-262-28209-7; 1-4356-9409-0
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (723 p.)
• Altri autori (Persone): RasmussenSteen
• Disciplina: 576.8/3
• Soggetti: Artificial cells; Life (Biology); Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents ; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; I OVERVIEW: BRIDGING NONLIVING AND LIVING MATTER; 1 The Early History of Protocells: The Search for the Recipe of Life; 2 Experimental Approaches to Fabricating Artificial Cellular Life; 3 Semisynthetic Minimal Cells: New Advancements and Perspectives; 4 A Roadmap to Protocells; II INTEGRATION; 5 Steps Toward a Synthetic Protocell; 6 Assembly of a Minimal Protocell; 7 Population Analysis of Liposomes with Protein Synthesis and a Cascading Genetic Network; 8 Constructive Approach to Protocells: Theory and Experiments; 9 Origin of Life and Lattice Artificial Chemistry10 Models of Protocell Replication; 11 Compositional Lipid Protocells: Reproduction without Polynucleotides; 12 Evolutionary Microfluidic Complementation Toward Artificial Cells; III COMPONENTS; 13 Self-Replication and Autocatalysis; 14 Replicator Dynamics in Protocells; 15 Peptide Nucleic Acids as Prebiotic and Abiotic Genetic Material; 16 The Core of a Minimal Gene Set: Insights from Natural Reduced Genomes; 17 Parasitism and Protocells:Tragedy of the Molecular Commons; 18 Forming the Essential Template for Life: The Physics of Lipid Self- Assembly19 Numerical Methods for Protocell Simulations; 20 Core Metabolism as a Self-Organized System; 21 Energetics, Energy Flow, and Scaling in Life; IV BROADER CONTEXT; 22 Ganti's Chemoton Model ; and Life Criteria; 23 Viral Individuality and Limitations of the Life Concept; 24 Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics and the Origin of Life: The Inorganic-Physical Chemist Point of View; 25 Early Ancestors of Existing Cells; 26 Prebiotic Chemistry, the Primordial Replicator, and Modern Protocells; 27 Cell-like Entities: Scientific Challenges and Future Applications28 Social and Ethical Issues Concerning Protocells; Glossary; About the Authors; Index; Color Plates
• Sommario/riassunto: The first comprehensive general resource on state-of-the-art protocell research, describing current approaches to making new forms of life from scratch in the laboratory.