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Los Alamos, European Researchers Near Nano-Based Life-Like ‘Protocells’
Scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory and across Europe have disclosed they are close to developing a nanoscale system of molecules that will show living cell-like behavior, including eventually reproduce itself. These microscopic ‘Protocells” which already exist in some degree, could be the first step in making lifelike devices that perform specific, useful functions.
The Los Alamos team has already built a pared-down version of a ‘Protocell.” And, while it cannot yet replicate itself, it has reached one major milestone: The Protocell built its own container – a process that demonstrates its ability to use its information system to control a metabolic pathway that converted external resources into container material.
“Our goal is not to modify existing living cells and turn them into little machines," said Steen Rasmussen, leader of Los Alamos’ Protocell Assembly project. "Our goal is to take those features that make living cells so successful and apply them to something new. In fact, starting from scratch has some advantages, Rasmussen said,
PHOTO RIGHT: Steen Rasmussen (right) and Hans Ziock are part of a team of some 23 researchers in the Los Alamos Protocell Assembly project. Other team members are Jim Bailey, Jim Boncella, Liaohai Chen, Stirling Colgate, Gavin Collis, Michael DeClue, Dhaval Doshi, Harold Fellermann, Gordon Jarvinen, Chad Knutson, Sarah Maurer, James Maxwell, Pierre-Alain Monnard, Fouzi Mouffouk, Andy Shreve, Bryan Travis, Yi Jiang, Pawel Weronski, Woody Woodruff, Jinsuo Zhang, and Xin Zhou.
"[W]e can design our protocell to do things that living cells cannot. In theory, we can make it so different that it can operate in any environment—toxic, radioactive, or otherwise. Protocells could also be made to have little or no impact on the biosphere, “which would make them less controversial to use than genetically modified cells,” Rasmussen added.
What’s in a ‘Protocell’
The ‘Protocell’ has just three components:
But how did the ‘Protocell’ build its own container? A little fatty acid chemistry.
Unlike in a living cell, where activity takes place inside a membrane, the Los Alamos ‘Protocell’ conducts activity in the oily part of the bi-layer -- or at its surface. This enables the protocell to exchange nutrients and wastes with the environment -- and importantly drop the need for a cell’s complex process for transporting resources through its membrane.
To get their ‘container,’ researchers mixed sensitizer molecules and informational molecules together with chemical nutrients in a water-based soup. The mixture is then exposed to a bright light. The sensitizer absorbs the light energy and, together with the information molecule, catalyzes the breakup of a nutrient into a fatty acid and a waste product. After some time, enough fatty acids have been produced to spontaneously form a bi-layer. At that point, metabolism results in a container for the Protocell.
“Our goal is not to modify existing living cells and turn them into little machines," said Steen Rasmussen, leader of Los Alamos’ Protocell Assembly project. "Our goal is to take those features that make living cells so successful and apply them to something new. In fact, starting from scratch has some advantages, Rasmussen said,
PHOTO RIGHT: Steen Rasmussen (right) and Hans Ziock are part of a team of some 23 researchers in the Los Alamos Protocell Assembly project. Other team members are Jim Bailey, Jim Boncella, Liaohai Chen, Stirling Colgate, Gavin Collis, Michael DeClue, Dhaval Doshi, Harold Fellermann, Gordon Jarvinen, Chad Knutson, Sarah Maurer, James Maxwell, Pierre-Alain Monnard, Fouzi Mouffouk, Andy Shreve, Bryan Travis, Yi Jiang, Pawel Weronski, Woody Woodruff, Jinsuo Zhang, and Xin Zhou.
"[W]e can design our protocell to do things that living cells cannot. In theory, we can make it so different that it can operate in any environment—toxic, radioactive, or otherwise. Protocells could also be made to have little or no impact on the biosphere, “which would make them less controversial to use than genetically modified cells,” Rasmussen added.
What’s in a ‘Protocell’
The ‘Protocell’ has just three components:
- A metabolism (the chemical processes used to obtain energy and create the protocell's building blocks).
- An information system (which instructs the metabolism). Like DNA, the molecules that make up the information system have the ability to copy themselves.
- A container (which keeps everything together).
But how did the ‘Protocell’ build its own container? A little fatty acid chemistry.
Unlike in a living cell, where activity takes place inside a membrane, the Los Alamos ‘Protocell’ conducts activity in the oily part of the bi-layer -- or at its surface. This enables the protocell to exchange nutrients and wastes with the environment -- and importantly drop the need for a cell’s complex process for transporting resources through its membrane.
To get their ‘container,’ researchers mixed sensitizer molecules and informational molecules together with chemical nutrients in a water-based soup. The mixture is then exposed to a bright light. The sensitizer absorbs the light energy and, together with the information molecule, catalyzes the breakup of a nutrient into a fatty acid and a waste product. After some time, enough fatty acids have been produced to spontaneously form a bi-layer. At that point, metabolism results in a container for the Protocell.