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Nature 454, 37-38 (3 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/454037a; Published online 2 July 2008
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Origins of life: How leaky were primitive cells?
David W. Deamer1
Abstract
If the first cells were simple vesicles, how did nutrients cross their membranes without help from transport proteins? A model of a primitive cell suggests that early membranes were surprisingly permeable.
How life began remains an open question. There are now a dozen or more competing ideas that fall into two general categories: life began either as an autotrophic organism that used primitive metabolic pathways to make its own organic components, or as a heterotroph that incorporated carbon-containing nutrients already available in the environment.
- David W. Deamer is in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
Email: deamer@soe.ucsc.edu
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