Nature Chem.http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1127 (2011)

Credit: © 2011 NPG

Cell replication involves the creation of a new compartment with a copy of the genetic material inside (usually RNA or DNA). To study such processes of DNA self-replication and compartment self-reproduction, especially with regards to understanding the origin of life, model protocells — putative cell precursors — have been engineered, such as self-replicating DNA within lipid compartments, and self-reproductive giant vesicles. Now, Kensuke Kurihara et al. have combined the two. They demonstrated the self-reproduction of giant vesicles chemically linked to the self-replication of DNA. The vesicles bear an amphiphilic catalyst and are filled with DNA and polymerase-chain-reaction reagents, which amplify the DNA before the vesicles reproduce on the addition of an amphiphilic membrane precursor that produces membrane molecules through hydrolysis assisted by the catalyst. Electrostatic interactions of the polyanionic DNA with the inner leaflet of the cationic vesicle membrane induce a morphological change that leads to division and partitioning of the DNA into the daughter compartment.