Scientists have taken an important step towards the possibility of creating synthetic life with the development of a form of artificial evolution in a simple chemistry set without DNA.
A team from the University of Glasgow’s School of Chemistry report in a new paper in the journal Nature Communications today (Monday 8 December) on how they have managed to create an evolving chemical system for the first time. The process uses a robotic ‘aid’ and could be used in the future to ‘evolve’ new chemicals capable of performing specific tasks.
The researchers used a specially-designed open source robot based upon a cheap 3D printer to create and monitor droplets of oil in water-filled Petri dishes in their lab. Each droplet was composed from a slightly different mixture of four chemical compounds.
Droplets of oil move in water like primitive chemical machines, transferring chemical energy to kinetic energy. The researchers’ robot used a video camera to monitor, process and analyse the behaviour of 225 differently-composed droplets, identifying a number of distinct characteristics such as vibration or clustering.
The team picked out three types of droplet behaviour – division, movement and vibration – to focus on in the next stage of the research. They used the robot to deposit populations of droplets of the same composition, then ranked these populations in order of how closely they fit the criteria of behaviour identified by the researchers. The chemical composition of the ‘fittest’ population was then carried over into a second generation of droplets, and the process of robotic selection was begun again.
Over the course of 20 repetitions of the process, the researchers found that the droplets became more stable, mimicking the natural selection of evolution.
The research team was led by Professor Lee Cronin, the University of Glasgow’s Regius Chair of Chemistry.
Professor Cronin said: “This is the first time that an evolvable chemical system has existed outside of biology. Biological evolution has given rise to enormously complex and sophisticated forms of life, and our robot-driven form of evolution could have the potential to do something similar for chemical systems.
“This initial phase of research has shown that the system we’ve designed is capable of facilitating an evolutionary process, so we could in the future create models to perform specific tasks, such as splitting, then seeking out other droplets and fusing with them. We’re also keen to explore in future experiments how the emergence of unexpected features, functions and behaviours might be selected for.
“In recent years, we’ve learned a great deal about the process of biological evolution through computer simulations. However, this research provides the possibility of new ways of looking at the origins of life as well as creating new simple chemical life forms.”
The Latest on: Synthetic life
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Synthetic life” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Synthetic life
- Living the high lifeon April 26, 2024 at 8:16 am
Discover the pros and cons of condo living in urban India, from convenience and social interaction to elitism and exclusivity. Dive into the world of condo living with this thought-provoking article.
- Watch as gran’s life is saved when doctors replace her artery with ‘frozen elephant trunk’ in groundbreaking opon April 26, 2024 at 7:27 am
A GRANDMA’s life was saved when doctors replaced her artery with a ‘frozen elephant trunk’ in a groundbreaking op. Jeanette, 70, was in desperate need of surgery, as her aorta ...
- Synthetic droplets cause a stir in the primordial soup: Chemotaxis research answers questions about biological movementon April 25, 2024 at 7:14 am
Simple yet profound questions like these are at the heart of curiosity-driven basic research, which focuses on the fundamental principles of natural phenomena. An important example is the process by ...
- Synthetic opioids: warning issued in NSW after nitazenes cause cluster of overdoseson April 24, 2024 at 7:24 pm
NSW Health investigating after powerful drugs detected in samples related to overdoses in Nepean Blue Mountains local health district ...
- Watch: Tech Makes People Dance in 'Synthetic Pleasures' Short Filmon April 24, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Unable to life our heads. To see. To feel, anything. Now watch, as we are set free." Is it technology setting us free, or are we freeing ourselves from technology? Nowadays the latter seems more ...
- Synthetic Sweetener Found Inside Cake Linked To Punjab Girl's Death; Are Artificial Sweeteners Good Or Bad?on April 24, 2024 at 3:00 am
Discover the shocking truth behind a fatal cake and the debate over artificial sweeteners Are they sweet salvation or hidden danger ...
- Self-assembling synthetic cells act like living cells with extra abilitieson April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
“The synthetic cells were stable even at 122 °F (50 °C), opening up the possibility of manufacturing cells with extraordinary capabilities in environments normally unsuitable to human life,” said ...
- AI Tool Creates ‘Synthetic’ Images of Cells for Enhanced Microscopy Analysison April 23, 2024 at 1:18 pm
AI models learn how to carry out such tasks by using a set of data that are annotated by humans, but the process of distinguishing cells from their background, called “single-cell segmentation,” is ...
- Concerns arise over illegal statewide sales of synthetic hemp productson April 21, 2024 at 2:04 am
The Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board said it had recently received “several reports of intoxicating hemp products being sold within the state and on the internet” ...
- Will Synthetic, AI-Based Digital Humans Change Pharma and Life Sciences? Q&A with Abid Rahman, SVP Innovation, EVERSANAon April 19, 2024 at 3:11 am
Digital twins is an exciting new technology that presents researchers in the life sciences industry with the opportunity to obtain highly detailed sets of data. Abid Rahman, SVP of innovation at ...
via Bing News