Enzymatic RNA synthesis in self‐reproducing vesicles: An approach to the construction of a minimal synthetic cell

Abstract Our approach towards “core‐and‐shell self‐reproduction” is reviewed here. With this term, we indicate a process by which the shell‐reproduction of a spherically bounded system (micelles or vesicles) proceeds simultaneously with the replication of nucleic acid which is hosted inside the micelles or vesicles. The realization of such a process is seen as a step towards the construction of a synthetic cell model. Two chemical systems are examined here, one based on the polynucleotide phosphorylase‐catalyzed synthesis of poly(A) starting from ADP; and the other based on the enzyme Q β replicase, which is able to catalyze the synthesis of a RNA template. In both cases, production of RNA macromolecules proceeds simultaneously with self‐reproduction of the oleic acid/oleate vesicles. One still open question is the determination of the redistribution of the guest macromolecular components during the reproduction of the shell. Within these limits, it is argued that this work offers a system which goes beyond the two approaches to self‐replication presented until now in the literature, namely the template self‐reproduction of linear sequences of oligonucleotides and the autopoietic shell reproduction of micelles and vesicles.