Self-replication energy

As is evident, the three closure rules which must be satisfied by a true self-replicator— energy closure, material closure, and the information closure—place an extraordinary burden onto the design and implementation of self-replicating objects. The SSR must be able to produce and distribute energy, ingest raw materials to fabricate parts, and contain a complete technical description of itself, its processes, and its assembly instructions. Additionally, the environment for the SSR must also be considered, and perhaps specially designed, in order to make available all of the necessary raw materials for self-replication. 

In addition, the authors suggest that all such systems must have a semi-permeable active boundary (membrane), an energy transduction apparatus and (at least) two types of functionally interdependent macromolecular components (catalysts and records). Thus, the phenomenon of life requires not only individual self-replication and self-sustaining systems, but it also requires of such individual systems the ability to develop a characteristic, evolutionary dynamic and a historical collectivist organisation. 

The similarities in products and pathways between interstellar molecules and terrestrial laboratory experiments imply a unity of physical and chemical laws in the universe. Given certain conditions and appropriate energy sources, the same chemical pathways will be followed to create certain products from the elements. That is not to say that life, even in primitive form, could be supported in interstellar space. The significant precursor molecules found in interstellar space are at extremely low concentrations, but if they were transported to planetary atmospheres, perhaps by comets, they might then react in the proper environment and evolve into self-replicating systems. 

At the point where amphiphiles were recruited to provide the precursors to cell membranes, stable lipid vesicles could have evolved [141] to enclose autocatalytic chiral hypercycles. Credible models for the subsequent evolution of vesicles containing self-replicating chiral molecules have appeared in the literature. [193,194] These vesicles could then emerge from the feldspar spaces [134,192] as micron-sized self-reproducing, energy-metabolizing vesicular systems protobacteria ready to face the hydrothermal world on their own terms. 

There are two fundamental conditions for life. First, the living entity must be able to self-replicate (a topic considered in Part III) second, the organism must be able to catalyze chemical reactions efficiently and selectively. The central importance of catalysis may surprise some beginning students of biochemistry, but it is easy to demonstrate. As described in Chapter 1, living systems make use of energy from the environment. Many of us, for example, consume substantial amounts of sucrose—common table sugar—as a kind of fuel, whether in the form of sweetened foods and drinks or as sugar itself. The conversion of sucrose to C02 and... 

A photoelectrolysis hydrogen fuel energy system uses self-replicating nanorobots ( nanobots ) to mimic the first half of the photosynthesis process to produce hydrogen gas. Fuel cells made of carbon nano-tubes could be used to interface with all energy consumers. This hydrogen fuel energy system is conceptualized as shown in Fig. 7. 

A living system is an open system that is self-replicating, selfregulating, and feeds on energy from the environment. 

MESA is the beginning of a new area of research. Now that its feasibility has been established, it can go into several directions. New areas to explore include catalysis, self-replicating systems, introduction of new forces, assembly of small electrically active components, and energy dissipating systems. A common direction in MESA will be to develop strategies that allow large arrays to assemble with high levels of precision and perfection. 

Probably, the ultimate case of symbiosis involves cellular inclusions called mitochondria and chloroplasts. Mitochondria are small cylindrical bodies within eukaryotic cells that function as the chemical powerhouses of these cells (see Sections 5.3.7 and 5.5.1). It is in the mitochondrion that ATP is formed through the biochanical reactions of the Krebs cycle (see Section 3.10). Mitochondria are self replicating within the cell and their numbers increase as cellular energy needs increase. They contain their own DNA (mtDNA) separate from the DNA in the ceU nucleus. 

In order to address the characteristics of biological models, we have to first define the basic principles of biological systems that a supramolecular model may mimic. Among the most important are selective molecular recognition of a molecular entity selective and highly accelerated modification of a substrate (typieal role of enzymes) compartmentalization and selective translocation of chemical species across boundaries (typieal role of biomembranes) harvesting and transformation of energy and self-replication. 

Mitochondria are small self replicating sub-cellular organelles found in the cytoplasm of all eukaryotes. However, the situation is rather more complicated than that. Mitochondria are essential as they are the site of oxidative phosphorylation, the energy producing process in eukaryotes, and although they have their own DNA (mtDNA). only a minority of mitochondrial proteins are ac-... 

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