Application of molecular dynamics computer simulations in the design of a minimal self‐replicating molecular machine |
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| Authors: | Paweł Weroński Yi Jiang Steen Rasmussen |
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| Institution: | 1. Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545;2. Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Niezapominajek 8, 30‐239 Kraków, Poland;3. Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 |
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| Abstract: | It is commonly agreed that a chemical assembly of molecules can be considered alive if it can ingest resources and convert them into building blocks; has the ability to grow and self‐reproduce; and can evolve. In the design proposed by Rasmussen and Chen (Science 2004, 303, 963) the assembly or protocell could be as simple as a small micellar surfactant aggregate acting as a container, anchoring an informational molecule to its exterior and incorporating a metabolism within the oily interior. We present several examples of modeling such a system with molecular dynamics computer simulations. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2008. |
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| Keywords: | molecular self‐assembly artificial life lipid bilayer peptide nucleic acid micellar dynamics |
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