Chemical stimulus used to trigger synthetic cell division

By Grace Thoburn2020-03-30T13:56:00

An illustration showng self-division of giant vesicles driven by an internal enzymatic reaction

Source: © Istvan Lagzi/Budapest University of Technology and Economics

Mother vesicle that divides into two smaller daughter vesicles could be a plausible model of primitive cells

Scientists in Italy and Hungary have made a vesicle that will divide in response to a chemical trigger. Their system could shed light on how primitive biological cells came to replicate and expand our understanding of the origin of life.