ArticleNature2008
Template-directed synthesis of a genetic polymer in a model protocell.
Article in Nature, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 234 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
234 citing papers in PubMed, 705 citations in OpenAlex.
- Toward Ideal Proximity-Driven Reactions in Chemical Biology.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2026Review
- Navigating Lipid Nanostructure Design Space Through Continuous Microfluidic Automation.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Advances in Strategies for Colloidal Self-Assembly.Chemical reviews · 2026Review
- Sequence patterns in RNA replication via the virtual circular genome mechanism.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Chemical Routes to Primitive Membranes: Prebiotic Lipid Formation at the Origin of Life.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The secret life of RNA and lipids.RNA biology · 2025Review
- Nanopore sequencing of intact aminoacylated tRNAs.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Instability-induced crystal self-assembly in film-substrate system for the construction of large-area micro- and nano-chiral structures.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Interfacial assembly of biomimetic MOF-based porous membranes on coacervates to build complex protocells and prototissues.Nature chemistry · 2025Article
- From experimental clues to theoretical modeling: Evolution associated with the membrane-takeover at an early stage of life.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Chirality-Promoted Chemical Ligation and Reverse Transcription ofJournal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Permeability selection of biologically relevant membranes matches the stereochemistry of life on Earth.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Protocell Dynamics: Modelling Growth and Division of Lipid Vesicles Driven by an Autocatalytic Reaction.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Adaptive ATP-induced molecular condensation in membranized protocells.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Chemiosmotic ATP synthesis by minimal protocells.Cell reports. Physical science · 2025Article
- Origin of the RNA World in Cold Hadean Geothermal Fields Enriched in Zinc and Potassium: Abiogenesis as a Positive Fallout from the Moon-Forming Impact?Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Covalent Template-Directed Synthesis: A Powerful Tool for the Construction of Complex Molecules.Chemical reviews · 2025Review
- RNA Order Regulates Its Interactions with Zwitterionic Lipid Bilayers.Nano letters · 2025Article
- Unveiling the Effect of Myo-inositol on Primitive Cell Models Derived from Fatty Acid.Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry · 2025Article
- Evolution of the substrate specificity of an RNA ligase ribozyme from phosphorimidazole to triphosphate activation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
174 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Contemporary phospholipid-based cell membranes are formidable barriers to the uptake of polar and charged molecules ranging from metal ions to complex nutrients. Modern cells therefore require sophisticated protein channels and pumps to mediate the exchange of molecules with their environment. The strong barrier function of membranes has made it difficult to understand the origin of cellular life and has been thought to preclude a heterotrophic lifestyle for primitive cells. Although nucleotides can cross dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine membranes through defects formed at the gel-to-liquid transition temperature, phospholipid membranes lack the dynamic properties required for membrane growth. Fatty acids and their corresponding alcohols and glycerol monoesters are attractive candidates for the components of protocell membranes because they are simple amphiphiles that form bilayer membrane vesicles that retain encapsulated oligonucleotides and are capable of growth and division. Here we show that such membranes allow the passage of charged molecules such as nucleotides, so that activated nucleotides added to the outside of a model protocell spontaneously cross the membrane and take part in efficient template copying in the protocell interior. The permeability properties of prebiotically plausible membranes suggest that primitive protocells could have acquired complex nutrients from their environment in the absence of any macromolecular transport machinery; that is, they could have been obligate heterotrophs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.