Abstract
Making artificial (“de-novo”) life from completely synthetic molecules is a challenging endeavour that could help us understand life, detect it, and gain some insight on its origins. The aim of this thesis is to combine in a single system several properties that are fundamental to living systems – specifically self-replication, compartmentalization, and metabolism.
This work is based on self-replicating fibres that emerge from a dynamic combinatorial library. Through the thesis, we study their self-replication mechanism using HS-AFM, use complex coacervates to compartmentalize them, and combine them with photocatalytic cofactors to obtain the first synthetic example of a light-driven protometabolism. Finally, we combine this protometabolic feedback loop with out-of-equilibrium conditions to design a synthetic oscillator.
The results shown here are first steps towards the synthesis of de-novo life, and can lead in the future to more complex processes such as ecological relationships or Darwinian evolution.
This work is based on self-replicating fibres that emerge from a dynamic combinatorial library. Through the thesis, we study their self-replication mechanism using HS-AFM, use complex coacervates to compartmentalize them, and combine them with photocatalytic cofactors to obtain the first synthetic example of a light-driven protometabolism. Finally, we combine this protometabolic feedback loop with out-of-equilibrium conditions to design a synthetic oscillator.
The results shown here are first steps towards the synthesis of de-novo life, and can lead in the future to more complex processes such as ecological relationships or Darwinian evolution.
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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| Supervisors/Advisors |
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| Award date | 15-May-2020 |
| Place of Publication | [Groningen] |
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| Print ISBNs | 978-94-034-2573-3 |
| Electronic ISBNs | 978-94-034-2572-6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |