Towards Proto-Cells: “Primitive” Lipid Vesicles Encapsulating Giant DNA and Its Histone Complex

Abstract

An important prebiotic event was probably the incorporation of nucleic acids by lipid vesicles. This process was studied with artificial model cells and fluorescent probes. Pictures 1–4 represent a time series of fluorescence microscopic images of T4 DNA molecules (166 kb) incorporated into giant vesicles of 5 μm diameter. The entrapped DNA molecules are in a coiled state.