---
_id: '5944'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Understanding the thermodynamics of the duplication process is a fundamental
    step towards a comprehensive physical theory of biological systems. However, the
    immense complexity of real cells obscures the fundamental tensions between energy
    gradients and entropic contributions that underlie duplication. The study of synthetic,
    feasible systems reproducing part of the key ingredients of living entities but
    overcoming major sources of biological complexity is of great relevance to deepen
    the comprehension of the fundamental thermodynamic processes underlying life and
    its prevalence. In this paper an abstract—yet realistic—synthetic system made
    of small synthetic protocell aggregates is studied in detail. A fundamental relation
    between free energy and entropic gradients is derived for a general, non-equilibrium
    scenario, setting the thermodynamic conditions for the occurrence and prevalence
    of duplication phenomena. This relation sets explicitly how the energy gradients
    invested in creating and maintaining structural—and eventually, functional—elements
    of the system must always compensate the entropic gradients, whose contributions
    come from changes in the translational, configurational, and macrostate entropies,
    as well as from dissipation due to irreversible transitions. Work/energy relations
    are also derived, defining lower bounds on the energy required for the duplication
    event to take place. A specific example including real ternary emulsions is provided
    in order to grasp the orders of magnitude involved in the problem. It is found
    that the minimal work invested over the system to trigger a duplication event
    is around ~ 10−13J , which results, in the case of duplication of all the vesicles
    contained in a liter of emulsion, in an amount of energy around ~ 1kJ . Without
    aiming to describe a truly biological process of duplication, this theoretical
    contribution seeks to explicitly define and identify the key actors that participate
    in it.
article_number: '9'
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Bernat
  full_name: Corominas-Murtra, Bernat
  id: 43BE2298-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Corominas-Murtra
  orcid: 0000-0001-9806-5643
citation:
  ama: Corominas-Murtra B. Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic protocell
    systems. <i>Life</i>. 2019;9(1). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009">10.3390/life9010009</a>
  apa: Corominas-Murtra, B. (2019). Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic
    protocell systems. <i>Life</i>. MDPI. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009">https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009</a>
  chicago: Corominas-Murtra, Bernat. “Thermodynamics of Duplication Thresholds in
    Synthetic Protocell Systems.” <i>Life</i>. MDPI, 2019. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009">https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009</a>.
  ieee: B. Corominas-Murtra, “Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic
    protocell systems,” <i>Life</i>, vol. 9, no. 1. MDPI, 2019.
  ista: Corominas-Murtra B. 2019. Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic
    protocell systems. Life. 9(1), 9.
  mla: Corominas-Murtra, Bernat. “Thermodynamics of Duplication Thresholds in Synthetic
    Protocell Systems.” <i>Life</i>, vol. 9, no. 1, 9, MDPI, 2019, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/life9010009">10.3390/life9010009</a>.
  short: B. Corominas-Murtra, Life 9 (2019).
date_created: 2019-02-10T22:59:15Z
date_published: 2019-01-15T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-08-24T14:43:41Z
day: '15'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: EdHa
doi: 10.3390/life9010009
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000464125500001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 7d2322cd96ace41959909b66702d5cf4
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2019-02-11T10:45:27Z
  date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:47:13Z
  file_id: '5951'
  file_name: 2019_Life_Corominas.pdf
  file_size: 963454
  relation: main_file
file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:47:13Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         9'
isi: 1
issue: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '01'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Life
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - '20751729'
publication_status: published
publisher: MDPI
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Thermodynamics of duplication thresholds in synthetic protocell systems
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 4359f0d1-fa6c-11eb-b949-802e58b17ae8
volume: 9
year: '2019'
...