The origin of cellular life
The origin of cellular life
Donald E. Ingber
Summary
This essay presents a scenario of the origin of life that is
based on analysis of biological architecture and mechan-
ical design at the microstructural level. My thesis is that
the same architectural and energetic constraints that
shape cells today also guided the evolution of the first
cells and that the molecular scaffolds that support solid-
phase biochemistry in modern cells represent living
microfossils of
