Abstract
The so-called Ribocell (ribozymes-based cell) is a theoretical cellular model that has been proposed some years ago as a possible minimal cell prototype. It consists in a self-replicating minimum RNA genome coupled with a self-reproducing lipid vesicle compartment. This model assumes the existence of two hypothetical ribozymes one able to catalyze the conversion of molecular precursors into lipids and the second one able to replicate RNA strands. Therefore, in an environment rich both of lipid precursors and activated nucleotides, the ribocell can self-reproduce if the genome self-replication and the compartment self-reproduction mechanisms are somehow synchronized. The aim of this contribution is to explore the feasibility of this model with in silico simulations using kinetic parameters available in literature.
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Notes
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Of course a cell can also die for not optimal external conditions.
- 2.
The underlying assumption of the deterministic approach is that all vesicles have the same time behavior in average.
- 3.
The system state density probability ℘(x, t) is defined so that the product ℘(x, t)dt gives the probability to find the system in the state x at the time interval [t, t + dt].
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Mavelli, F. (2011). Theoretical Approaches to Ribocell Modeling. In: Luisi, P., Stano, P. (eds) The Minimal Cell. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9944-0_14
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