Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34784760›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2021

Evolution towards increasing complexity through functional diversification in a protocell model of the RNA world.

Suvam Roy, Supratim Sengupta

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
1.8field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Compositional memory matters for early molecular systems.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. RNA World with Inhibitors.Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Coevolution of reproducers and replicators at the origin of life and the conditions for the origin of genomes.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Suvam RoyDepartment of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur-741246, India.
Supratim SenguptaDepartment of Physical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur-741246, India.ORCID 0000-0001-5294-0561
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata · IN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The encapsulation of genetic material inside compartments together with the creation and sustenance of functionally diverse internal components are likely to have been key steps in the formation of 'live', replicating protocells in an RNA world. Several experiments have shown that RNA encapsulated inside lipid vesicles can lead to vesicular growth and division through physical processes alone. Replication of RNA inside such vesicles can produce a large number of RNA strands. Yet, the impact of such replication processes on the emergence of the first ribozymes inside such protocells and on the subsequent evolution of the protocell population remains an open question. In this paper, we present a model for the evolution of protocells with functionally diverse ribozymes. Distinct ribozymes can be created with small probabilities during the error-prone RNA replication process via the rolling circle mechanism. We identify the conditions that can synergistically enhance the number of different ribozymes inside a protocell and allow functionally diverse protocells containing multiple ribozymes to dominate the population. Our work demonstrates the existence of an effective pathway towards increasing complexity of protocells that might have eventually led to the origin of life in an RNA world.

Indexed as

Artificial CellsRNA, CatalyticRNARNARNA, CatalyticprotocellribozymeRNA worldtemplate

Identifiers

PMID34784760
PMCPMC8596018
OpenAlexW3213568287

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.