Abstract
How did living things appear on early earth?
Answering this question is a large challenge for human
being. This question is separated to two different
questions: how can a living thing emerge from an
assembly of molecules and can such an emergence occur
on early earth. We are attempting to answer the former
question by constructing life-like systems in a test tube.
To date, we have constructed an artificial genome RNA
replication system by combining an artificial genome
RNA, the reconstituted translation system of Escherichia
coli, and micro-scale water droplets dispersed in oil
(water-in-oil emulsion). This system has several
characteristics of living things, the translation of a gene,
the replication of genome, and spontaneous evolution.
By using this system as a starting point, we believe that
we can develop a life-like system indistinguishable from
natural living cells, and through the construction we
would find an answer to the first question.
