---
_id: '5944'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Understanding the thermodynamics of the duplication process is a fundamental
step towards a comprehensive physical theory of biological systems. However, the
immense complexity of real cells obscures the fundamental tensions between energy
gradients and entropic contributions that underlie duplication. The study of synthetic,
feasible systems reproducing part of the key ingredients of living entities but
overcoming major sources of biological complexity is of great relevance to deepen
the comprehension of the fundamental thermodynamic processes underlying life and
its prevalence. In this paper an abstract—yet realistic—synthetic system made
of small synthetic protocell aggregates is studied in detail. A fundamental relation
between free energy and entropic gradients is derived for a general, non-equilibrium
scenario, setting the thermodynamic conditions for the occurrence and prevalence
of duplication phenomena. This relation sets explicitly how the energy gradients
invested in creating and maintaining structural—and eventually, functional—elements
of the system must always compensate the entropic gradients, whose contributions
come from changes in the translational, configurational, and macrostate entropies,
as well as from dissipation due to irreversible transitions. Work/energy relations
are also derived, defining lower bounds on the energy required for the duplication
event to take place. A specific example including real ternary emulsions is provided
in order to grasp the orders of magnitude involved in the problem. It is found
that the minimal work invested over the system to trigger a duplication event
is around ~ 10−13J , which results, in the case of duplication of all the vesicles
contained in a liter of emulsion, in an amount of energy around ~ 1kJ . Without
aiming to describe a truly biological process of duplication, this theoretical
contribution seeks to explicitly define and identify the key actors that participate
in it.
article_number: '9'
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Bernat
full_name: Corominas-Murtra, Bernat
id: 43BE2298-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Corominas-Murtra
orcid: 0000-0001-9806-5643
citation:
ama: Corominas-Murtra B. Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic protocell
systems. Life. 2019;9(1). doi:10.3390/life9010009
apa: Corominas-Murtra, B. (2019). Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic
protocell systems. Life. MDPI. https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009
chicago: Corominas-Murtra, Bernat. “Thermodynamics of Duplication Thresholds in
Synthetic Protocell Systems.” Life. MDPI, 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009.
ieee: B. Corominas-Murtra, “Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic
protocell systems,” Life, vol. 9, no. 1. MDPI, 2019.
ista: Corominas-Murtra B. 2019. Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic
protocell systems. Life. 9(1), 9.
mla: Corominas-Murtra, Bernat. “Thermodynamics of Duplication Thresholds in Synthetic
Protocell Systems.” Life, vol. 9, no. 1, 9, MDPI, 2019, doi:10.3390/life9010009.
short: B. Corominas-Murtra, Life 9 (2019).
date_created: 2019-02-10T22:59:15Z
date_published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-08-24T14:43:41Z
day: '15'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: EdHa
doi: 10.3390/life9010009
external_id:
isi:
- '000464125500001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: 7d2322cd96ace41959909b66702d5cf4
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2019-02-11T10:45:27Z
date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:47:13Z
file_id: '5951'
file_name: 2019_Life_Corominas.pdf
file_size: 963454
relation: main_file
file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:47:13Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 9'
isi: 1
issue: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '01'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Life
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- '20751729'
publication_status: published
publisher: MDPI
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic protocell systems
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 4359f0d1-fa6c-11eb-b949-802e58b17ae8
volume: 9
year: '2019'
...