Nature出版集团旗下子刊《Nature Communications》杂志上发表的一项研究报告说，在实验室生成的人造细胞也许可解释原始活细胞第一次是怎样形成复制能力的。

研究人员以前通过将蛋白质和DNA装到小小的类脂球中生成了模型细胞。他们能够对这些模型细胞进行操纵，以让其复制DNA并一分为二，但不能复制细胞周期——活细胞连续生长和分裂的过程。

    Tadashi Sugawara及同事通过建立一个简单的方法来将新分裂的人造细胞与其他模仿细胞的类脂球融合的办法对这一复制特性进行了模拟。这为新形成的人造细胞提供了重启这一过程所需的全部蛋白质、类脂和DNA，从而在一个实验室人工环境中创建了一个细胞周期模型。

鉴于在这一模拟版本中所有的生物材料数量非常少，所以它为原始单细胞生物第一次是怎样形成自我复制能力的提供了一个可信的情景。

    原文链接：A recursive vesicle-based model protocell with a primitive model cell cycle

    原文摘要：Self-organized lipid structures (protocells) have been proposed as an intermediate between nonliving material and cellular life. Synthetic production of model protocells can demonstrate the potential processes by which living cells first arose. While we have previously described a giant vesicle (GV)-based model protocell in which amplification of DNA was linked to self-reproduction, the ability of a protocell to recursively self-proliferate for multiple generations has not been demonstrated. Here we show that newborn daughter GVs can be restored to the status of their parental GVs by pH-induced vesicular fusion of daughter GVs with conveyer GVs filled with depleted substrates. We describe a primitive model cell cycle comprising four discrete phases (ingestion, replication, maturity and division), each of which is selectively activated by a specific external stimulus. The production of recursive self-proliferating model protocells represents a step towards eventual production of model protocells that are able to mimic evolution.