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Metabolism is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cellular processes; the conversion of food to building blocks of proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and some carbohydrates; and the elimination of metabolic wastes. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. The word metabolism can also refer to the sum of all chemical reactions that occur in living organisms, including digestion and the transportation of substances into and between different cells, in which case the above described set of reactions within the cells is called intermediary metabolism.
Nucleotides are organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecules within all life-forms on Earth. Nucleotides are obtained in the diet and are also synthesized from common nutrients by the liver.
Proteinoids, or thermal proteins, are protein-like, often cross-linked molecules formed abiotically from amino acids. Sidney W. Fox initially proposed that they may have been precursors to the first living cells (protocells). The term was also used in the 1960s to describe peptides that are shorter than twenty amino acids found in hydrolysed protein, but this term is no longer commonly used.
The RNA world is a hypothetical stage in the evolutionary history of life on Earth in which self-replicating RNA molecules proliferated before the evolution of DNA and proteins. The term also refers to the hypothesis that posits the existence of this stage.
In cell biology, a vesicle is a structure within or outside a cell, consisting of liquid or cytoplasm enclosed by a lipid bilayer. Vesicles form naturally during the processes of secretion (exocytosis), uptake (endocytosis), and the transport of materials within the plasma membrane. Alternatively, they may be prepared artificially, in which case they are called liposomes. If there is only one phospholipid bilayer, the vesicles are called unilamellar liposomes; otherwise they are called multilamellar liposomes. The membrane enclosing the vesicle is also a lamellar phase, similar to that of the plasma membrane, and intracellular vesicles can fuse with the plasma membrane to release their contents outside the cell. Vesicles can also fuse with other organelles within the cell. A vesicle released from the cell is known as an extracellular vesicle.
The iron–sulfur world hypothesis is a set of proposals for the origin of life and the early evolution of life advanced in a series of articles between 1988 and 1992 by Günter Wächtershäuser, a Munich patent lawyer with a degree in chemistry, who had been encouraged and supported by philosopher Karl R. Popper to publish his ideas. The hypothesis proposes that early life may have formed on the surface of iron sulfide minerals, hence the name. It was developed by retrodiction from extant biochemistry in conjunction with chemical experiments.
DNA synthesis is the natural or artificial creation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules. DNA is a macromolecule made up of nucleotide units, which are linked by covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds, in a repeating structure. DNA synthesis occurs when these nucleotide units are joined to form DNA; this can occur artificially or naturally. Nucleotide units are made up of a nitrogenous base, pentose sugar (deoxyribose) and phosphate group. Each unit is joined when a covalent bond forms between its phosphate group and the pentose sugar of the next nucleotide, forming a sugar-phosphate backbone. DNA is a complementary, double stranded structure as specific base pairing occurs naturally when hydrogen bonds form between the nucleotide bases.
Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary field of science that focuses on living systems and organisms, and it applies engineering principles to develop new biological parts, devices, and systems or to redesign existing systems found in nature.
Xenobiology (XB) is a subfield of synthetic biology, the study of synthesizing and manipulating biological devices and systems. The name "xenobiology" derives from the Greek word xenos, which means "stranger, alien". Xenobiology is a form of biology that is not (yet) familiar to science and is not found in nature. In practice, it describes novel biological systems and biochemistries that differ from the canonical DNA–RNA-20 amino acid system. For example, instead of DNA or RNA, XB explores nucleic acid analogues, termed xeno nucleic acid (XNA) as information carriers. It also focuses on an expanded genetic code and the incorporation of non-proteinogenic amino acids, or “xeno amino acids” into proteins.
Coacervate is an aqueous phase rich in macromolecules such as synthetic polymers, proteins or nucleic acids. It forms through liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), leading to a dense phase in thermodynamic equilibrium with a dilute phase. The dispersed droplets of dense phase are also called coacervates, micro-coacervates or coacervate droplets. These structures draw a lot of interest because they form spontaneously from aqueous mixtures and provide stable compartmentalization without the need of a membrane—they are protocell candidates.
Threose nucleic acid (TNA) is an artificial genetic polymer in which the natural five-carbon ribose sugar found in RNA has been replaced by an unnatural four-carbon threose sugar. Invented by Albert Eschenmoser as part of his quest to explore the chemical etiology of RNA, TNA has become an important synthetic genetic polymer (XNA) due to its ability to efficiently base pair with complementary sequences of DNA and RNA. The main difference between TNA and DNA/RNA is their backbones. DNA and RNA have their phosphate backbones attached to the 5' carbon of the deoxyribose or ribose sugar ring, respectively. TNA, on the other hand, has its phosphate backbone directly attached to the 3' carbon in the ring, since it does not have a 5' carbon. This modified backbone makes TNA, unlike DNA and RNA, completely refractory to nuclease digestion, making it a promising nucleic acid analog for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.
An artificial cell, synthetic cell or minimal cell is an engineered particle that mimics one or many functions of a biological cell. Often, artificial cells are biological or polymeric membranes which enclose biologically active materials. As such, liposomes, polymersomes, nanoparticles, microcapsules and a number of other particles can qualify as artificial cells.
A cell-free system is an in vitro tool widely used to study biological reactions that happen within cells apart from a full cell system, thus reducing the complex interactions typically found when working in a whole cell. Subcellular fractions can be isolated by ultracentrifugation to provide molecular machinery that can be used in reactions in the absence of many of the other cellular components. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell internals have been used for creation of these simplified environments. These systems have enabled cell-free synthetic biology to emerge, providing control over what reaction is being examined, as well as its yield, and lessening the considerations otherwise invoked when working with more sensitive live cells.
Mycoplasma laboratorium or Synthia refers to a synthetic strain of bacterium. The project to build the new bacterium has evolved since its inception. Initially the goal was to identify a minimal set of genes that are required to sustain life from the genome of Mycoplasma genitalium, and rebuild these genes synthetically to create a "new" organism. Mycoplasma genitalium was originally chosen as the basis for this project because at the time it had the smallest number of genes of all organisms analyzed. Later, the focus switched to Mycoplasma mycoides and took a more trial-and-error approach.
Jack William Szostak is a Canadian American biologist of Polish British descent, Nobel Prize laureate, University Professor at the University of Chicago, former Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and Alexander Rich Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. Szostak has made significant contributions to the field of genetics. His achievement helped scientists to map the location of genes in mammals and to develop techniques for manipulating genes. His research findings in this area are also instrumental to the Human Genome Project. He was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, along with Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres.
An expanded genetic code is an artificially modified genetic code in which one or more specific codons have been re-allocated to encode an amino acid that is not among the 22 common naturally-encoded proteinogenic amino acids.
A protocell is a self-organized, endogenously ordered, spherical collection of lipids proposed as a rudimentary precursor to cells during the origin of life. A central question in evolution is how simple protocells first arose and how their progeny could diversify, thus enabling the accumulation of novel biological emergences over time. Although a functional protocell has not yet been achieved in a laboratory setting, the goal to understand the process appears well within reach.
Evolution of cells refers to the evolutionary origin and subsequent evolutionary development of cells. Cells first emerged at least 3.8 billion years ago approximately 750 million years after Earth was formed.
Jeewanu are synthetic chemical particles that possess cell-like structure and seem to have some functional properties; that is, they are a model of primitive cells, or protocells. It was first synthesised by Krishna Bahadur, an Indian chemist and his team in 1963. Using photochemical reaction, they produced coacervates, microscopic cell-like spheres from a mixture of simple organic and inorganic compounds. Bahadur named these particles 'Jeewanu' because they exhibit some of the basic properties of a cell, such as the presence of semipermeable membrane, amino acids, phospholipids and carbohydrates. Further, like living cells, they had several catalytic activities. Jeewanu are cited as models of protocells for the origin of life, and as artificial cells.
A scenario is a set of related concepts pertinent to the origin of life (abiogenesis), such as the iron-sulfur world. Many alternative abiogenesis scenarios have been proposed by scientists in a variety of fields from the 1950s onwards in an attempt to explain how the complex mechanisms of life could have come into existence. These include hypothesized ancient environments that might have been favourable for the origin of life, and possible biochemical mechanisms.
References
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- ↑ "Biology could be the future of data storage". Biofuels Digest. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 10 Dec 2019.
- ↑ Müller, Ulrich F.; Tor, Yitzhak (2014). "Citric Acid and the RNA World". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 53 (21): 5245–5247. doi:10.1002/anie.201400847. PMC 4357230 . PMID 24828228.
- ↑ Adamala, Katarzyna P.; Martin-Alarcon, Daniel A.; Guthrie-Honea, Katriona R.; Boyden, Edward S. (2017). "Engineering genetic circuit interactions within and between synthetic minimal cells". Nature Chemistry. 9 (5): 431–439. Bibcode:2017NatCh...9..431A. doi:10.1038/nchem.2644. PMC 5407321 . PMID 28430194.
- ↑ "Build-a-Cell". Build-a-cell. Retrieved 10 Dec 2019.
- ↑ Callaway, Ewen (2016). "'Minimal' cell raises stakes in race to harness synthetic life". Nature. 531 (7596): 557–558. Bibcode:2016Natur.531..557C. doi: 10.1038/531557a . ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 27029256.
- ↑ "Synlife Bio". Synlife. Retrieved 10 Dec 2019.
- ↑ "Protobiology". www.protobiology.org. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
- ↑ "Kate Adamala | College of Biological Sciences". cbs.umn.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
