Researchers Build Model Protocell Capable of Copying DNA

Four billion years ago, modern cells were absent on our still-young planet. The simple protocells that are thought to have given rise to Earth's earliest life forms were plentiful, but likely no more than a bit of genetic material surrounded by a hollow membrane.Scientists have now created model protocells in the lab and demonstrated how they might have taken up the nutrients that propelled their growth. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator Jack Szostak and his research group fabricated DNA containing vesicles in the lab and showed that nutrients could enter the model protocell. Once inside, the nutrients assembled into a copy of the protocell's genetic material—an essential step in the origin of life.

Κι εγώ που νόμιζα μικρός ότι κάτι τέτοιο φτιάχνεται μόνο από προϋπάρχον παϊδάκι...

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http://www.hhmi.org/news/szostak20080604.html