ReviewChemical communications (Cambridge, England)2022
Growth, replication and division enable evolution of coacervate protocells.
Review in Chemical communications (Cambridge, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 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
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Elucidating the Reciprocal Interplay between Supramolecular Polymer Cytoskeletons and Fuel-Dependent Synthetic Cells.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- Design of Fuel-Dependent, Complex-Coacervate-Based Synthetic Cells.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Temporally Controlled Interconversion Between Suprasome and Supracube Structures to Regulate Catalytic Activities.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Bottom-Up Coacervate-Based Artificial Cells: Integrating Cellular Hallmarks into Complex Life-Like Systems.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Review
- Increasing the Compositional Heterogeneity of Single-Chain Amphiphile Membranes Supported by Coacervate Cores Alters Stability and Properties of the Hybrid Protocells.Langmuir : the ACS journal of surfaces and colloids · 2026Article
- Reconfiguration of Multiphase Coacervate Droplets Into Self-Regulated Nested Artificial Cells.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Programmable Coacervates Based on Minimalist Sticker-Spacer Frameworks: Chemical Design, Functions, and Emerging Applications.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2026Review
- Dynamics of synthetic transcriptional condensates emerge from RNA synthesis and degradation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- DNA affects the phenotype of fuel-dependent coacervate droplets.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Recent advances in coacervate protocells from passive catalysts to chemically programmable systems.Communications chemistry · 2026Review
- Orchestrating Self-Replication in Artificial Cells with Digital Microfluidics.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Phase-Separated Coacervates of Low-Molecular-Weight Compounds for Cytosolic Delivery and Disease Treatment.JACS Au · 2025Review
- Chemically Fueled, Active Droplets Prevent the Aging of Peptides into Amyloid-Like Fibers.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Coacervate Vesicles as Adaptive Platforms for Synthetic Biology and Smart Materials.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Review
- Autocatalytic Reaction between HCN and Cysteamine Produces Hydrophobic, Catalytic, Liquid Compartments.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Coacervate-Based Delivery Systems: Bridging Fundamentals and Applications.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025Review
- Selective Ion Binding and Uptake Shape the Microenvironment of Biomolecular Condensates.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2025Article
- Light-Responsive Mononucleotide Coacervates.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Resilient Membranized Coacervates Formed through Spontaneous Wrapping of Heat-Destabilized Lipid Bilayers around Coacervate Droplets.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Self-growing protocell models in aqueous two-phase system induced by internal DNA replication reaction.Nature communications · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Living and proliferating cells undergo repeated cycles of growth, replication and division, all orchestrated by complex molecular networks. How a minimal cell cycle emerged and helped primitive cells to evolve remains one of the biggest mysteries in modern science, and is an active area of research in chemistry. Protocells are cell-like compartments that recapitulate features of living cells and may be seen as the chemical ancestors of modern life. While compartmentalization is not strictly required for primitive, open-ended evolution of self-replicating systems, it gives such systems a clear identity by setting the boundaries and it can help them overcome three major obstacles of dilution, parasitism and compatibility. Compartmentalization is therefore widely considered to be a central hallmark of primitive life, and various types of protocells are actively investigated, with the ultimate goal of developing a protocell capable of autonomous proliferation by mimicking the well-known cell cycle of growth, replication and division. We and others have found that coacervates are promising protocell candidates in which chemical building blocks required for life are naturally concentrated, and chemical reactions can be selectively enhanced or suppressed. This feature article provides an overview of how growth, replication and division can be realized with coacervates as protocells and what the bottlenecks are. Considerations are given for designing chemical networks in coacervates that can lead to sustained growth, selective replication and controlled division, in a way that they are linked together like in the cell cycle. Ultimately, such a system may undergo evolution by natural selection of certain phenotypes, leading to adaptation and the gain of new functions, and we end with a brief discussion of the opportunities for coacervates to facilitate this.
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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.