The simulation could help researchers understand how interacting mix of proteins, nucleic acids, fats and other molecules within the wall of a cell gives rise to actual life, says Zane Thornburg, a computational biophysicist at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign who co-led the 9 March study in Cell1. To model bacterial life, Thornburg turned to one of its simplest examples: a bacterial cell with a 'minimal' genome. The organism, named JCVI-Syn3a, was created by whittling the genome of the parasite Mycoplasma mycoides down to just 493 genes, dispensing with more than 400 non-essential genes2. Thornburg created a three-dimensional simulation that attempted to account for the cell's DNA, proteins, ribosomes and other molecules of life, as they change over time. Specific molecules, such as a DNA-copying enzyme, obeyed rules based on real-world measurements, and reactions occurred when interacting partners became close in physical space. Some details were fudged. For example,...
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