A New Way to Think About Earth's First Cells (3 of 3) (IMAGE)

U.S. National Science Foundation

A New Way to Think About Earth's First Cells (3 of 3)

Caption

Above is a three-dimensional view of a model protocell approximately 100 nanometers in diameter. The protocell's fatty acid membrane allows nutrients and DNA building blocks to enter the cell and participate in non-enzymatic copying of the cell's DNA. The newly formed strands of DNA remain in the protocell.

Credit

Janet Iwasa, Szostak Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital

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