Semi-artificial cell

The research dealing with models for the first primitive cells has had one central topic for many years the minimal cell . According to Luisi et al. (2006a), this is defined as an artificial or semi-artificial cell which contains a minimal (but sufficient) number of components to keep the cell alive . The cell is considered to be living when three conditions are fulfilled ... 

Artificial enzymes for sequence-selective RNA scission are also important. If only one RNA can be selected from mar others in cells and is cleaved at the desired site, this shoirld open the way to new RNA science. Regulation of the expression of a specific gene in cells, advanced therapy, and RNA manipirlation are promising. However, none of the naturally occrrrring ri-bonucleases shows such a high sequence-selectivity. The so-called ribozymes are well suited for these purposes (Cech et al., 1981). However, these semi-artificial enzymes, based on RNA framework, do not necessarily fulfill all the requirements for versatile applications. The following factors sometimes impose limitations ... 

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