title: A recursive vesicle-based model protocell with a primitive model cell cycle.
abstract: Self-organized lipid structures (protocells) have been proposed as an intermediate between nonliving material and cellular life. Synthetic production of model protocells can demonstrate the potential processes by which living cells first arose. While we have previously described a giant vesicle (GV)-based model protocell in which amplification of DNA was linked to self-reproduction, the ability of a protocell to recursively self-proliferate for multiple generations has not been demonstrated. Here we show that newborn daughter GVs can be restored to the status of their parental GVs by pH-induced vesicular fusion of daughter GVs with conveyer GVs filled with depleted substrates. We describe a primitive model cell cycle comprising four discrete phases (ingestion, replication, maturity and division), each of which is selectively activated by a specific external stimulus. The production of recursive self-proliferating model protocells represents a step towards eventual production of model protocells that are able to mimic evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.|Research Center for Complex Systems Biology, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusaku
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okura
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Muneyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Science, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.|Research Center for Complex Systems Biology, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Toyota
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Complex Systems Biology, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.|Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Tsuchiya, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259-1293, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Complex Systems Biology, The University of Tokyo, Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.|Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Kanagawa University, Tsuchiya, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259-1293, Japan.|Toyota Physical and Chemical Research Institute, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1192, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugawara
mesh_terms: D058045:Artificial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002455:Cell Division; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008954:Models, Biological