The emergence of life on earth was only possible after the appearance of a genetic replicator capable of evolving. The group led by Christophe Danelon at TBI and the University of Delft (Netherlands) has developed a synthetic cell that produces proteins from self-replicating DNA. The system evolves by fixing mutations that confer a replicative advantage in a population of genetic variants, mimicking the principles of natural selection. The creation of an autonomous synthetic cell will require the integration of essential genes into this minimal self-replicator. These results were published in Nature Communications.
References
Abil, Z., Restrepo Sierra, A.M., Stan, A.R. et al. Darwinian Evolution of Self-Replicating DNA in a Synthetic Protocell. Nat Commun 15, 9091 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53226-0
Contact
Christophe DANELON
Légende de la photo : Image de microscopie à fluorescence de protocellules artificielles qui synthétisent des protéines et répliquent leur matériel génétique (ici en vert).
