Masayuki Imai, "From Vesicles to Synthetic Minimal Cells"

Thursday 12 Jun 2025, 14:15 → 15:15 Europe/Ljubljana

A/1-106 - Seminarska soba fizike (F5) (Jamova)

Life is a self-sustaining system that continuously proliferates by synthesizing membrane molecules from external raw materials, thereby enabling vesicle growth and division. Such living systems exist in a state markedly distinct from conventional physical systems, and elucidating the fundamental differences between living and non-living matter is a critical step toward understanding the essence of living systems. However, contemporary living systems are highly complex, making it extremely challenging to directly analyze the distinctions between life and matter using current organisms. To overcome this, we have constructed a model system—a minimal cell—that captures the essential features of life. Our synthetic minimal cell is a vesicle-based system that integrates the following three functional modules: 1. Artificial metabolic system, 2. Information processing system, and 3. Self-reproduction system. Furthermore, by varying the types of membrane molecules and genetic polymers, we have constructed eight distinct minimal cell types. By comparing their growth rates (fitness), we are developing a system in which the dynamics of evolution due to competition among minimal cells can emerge. In this seminar, we will introduce our synthetic minimal cell research and examine the conditions required for sustained proliferation and evolution from the perspective of non-equilibrium dynamics and information thermodynamics. This approach aims to shed light on the physical origin of the fundamental distinction between life and non-life.