The question “How did life begin?” has been stirring the minds of scientists, philosophers and all humanity for centuries. We are accustomed to thinking of life as something incredibly complex, based on DNA, proteins and cells – a true marvel of nature. But what if the fundamental principles of life – growth, reproduction, and even evolution – could arise from much simpler components?
The new article “Self-reproduction as an autonomous process of growth and reorganization in fully abiotic, artificial and synthetic cells” can give a hint on answering this question. Scientists have managed to create a system in the laboratory that, while not biologically alive, exhibits strikingly “alive” behavior. This is not an answer to an eternal question, but rather a bold step aside, opening up completely new ways to comprehend it.
New paper explores how lifelike self-replication can emerge in completely synthetic, non-biological systems. The study demonstrates that artificial cells – constructed from simple chemical components without any biological molecules – can autonomously grow, reorganize, and divide, mimicking basic reproductive behaviors of living cells. Key to this process is the design of abiotic protocells made from self-assembling materials like lipids or polymers. These synthetic compartments absorb external chemical building blocks, incorporate them into their structures, and undergo physical transformations that lead to spontaneous division. Unlike biological cells, which rely on complex genetic and metabolic networks, these artificial systems achieve reproduction through purely physicochemical mechanisms, such as membrane destabilization, osmotic pressure, or reaction-diffusion dynamics.
This work has broad implications. For origins-of-life research, it supports the idea that primitive self-replication could have arisen from simple chemical systems before the evolution of biological complexity. For synthetic biology, it provides a blueprint for engineering self-replicating materials, with potential applications in adaptive robotics, drug delivery, or sustainable chemistry.
Ultimately, the study challenges traditional boundaries between living and non-living matter, showing that lifelike autonomy can emerge from minimal abiotic components. It advances our understanding of self-organization in artificial life and opens new pathways for bio-inspired engineering.