Cellular intelligence: a man -made cell functions (Evolution)

by David Turell , Thursday, February 24, 2022, 18:51 (791 days ago) @ David Turell

Totally manufactured from parts which include 94 vital genes, whose underlying functions are not known:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/most-complete-simulation-of-a-cell-probes-lifes-hidden-r...

From the illustration:

"As the simulation of the minimal cell JCVI-syn3A grows and divides, the model tracks the movements and interactions of the cell’s components, including its ribosomes (yellow spheres) and specific membrane complexes and proteins (red, blue and green spheres), all wrapped up inside its cell membrane (green cubes).

"Now, as described recently in Cell, a team at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and their colleagues have created the most complete computer simulation ever of a living cell. With this digital model, biologists can burst through nature’s constraints and accelerate their exploration of how the most basic unit of life ticks — and what would happen if it ticked differently.

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"The cell in question is a lab-made “minimal cell” that teeters on the line between life and non-life, carrying a limited number of genes, most of them necessary for survival. By replicating the known biochemical processes happening inside this very basic cell and tracking all the nutrients, waste, gene products and other molecules moving through it in three dimensions, the simulation brings scientists closer to understanding how the simplest life form sustains itself and reveals some of the bare-bones requirements of life.

***

"Though simple, the cell is still enigmatic. For example, no one knows what 94 of those genes do except that the cell dies without them. Their presence suggests that there may be “living tasks or functions essential for life that … science is oblivious to,” said John Glass, a co-author of the new study and the leader of the synthetic biology group at the Venter Institute, and part of the team that developed the minimal cell in 2016. With modeling, the researchers hope they can quickly start to unveil some of these mysteries.

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"As the digital cell grew and divided, thousands of simulated biochemical reactions occurred, revealing how every molecule behaved and changed over time.

"The simulations mirrored many measurements of living JCVI-syn3A cells in culture. But they also predicted characteristics of the cells that hadn’t yet been noticed in the lab such as how the cell portions out its energy budget and how quickly its messenger RNA molecules degrade, a fact that critically affects researchers’ understanding of how the cell regulates genes.

"Some of the most surprising discoveries concerned the speedy growth and division of JCVI-syn3A cells. The simulation showed that to divide as rapidly as it does, the cell needs an enzyme called a transaldolase — but none seems to be present. Either the cell has evolved a metabolic pathway that makes the enzyme unnecessary, or “we are left with the possibility that there is such an enzyme, but that it does not look like an ordinary transaldolase,” Glass said.

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"Not all of the simulation’s data agreed with experimental data — and the model has important gaps, such as the unknown functions of 94 of the genes. What’s more, the model is a fundamentally biochemical one, but “to fully understand the cell, we need to sort of model all of the forces and interactions of every atom or molecule of the cell,” Glass said."

Comment: this is a simulated model made up of pick-up parts. So let me ask where does the independent intelligent activity come from? It is obviously built into the parts which know somehow how to work together. This is miraculous. Organic molecules know what to do only when put together properly. Separately they simply lie there as separate parts. Only a designed system fits the question I asked. This degree of design requires a brilliant mind. No other conclusion can be reached. See the illustration to understand how a single cell is packed full of active parts.