Gw mau tau Sasakala sél munggaran dari Sél (biologi). Jelasin dalam bahasa sunda

Mun hirup disawang tina jihat réplikator, nyaéta molekul DNA dina organisme, sél nyumponan dua kaayaan fundaméntal: pangjaga ti lingkungan luar sarta ngawadahan aktivitas biologis. The former condition is needed to maintain the fragile DNA chains stable in a varying and sometimes aggressive environment, and may have been the main réason for which cells evolved. The latter is fundamental for the evolution of biological complexity. If freely-floating DNA molecules that code for enzymes that are not enclosed into cells, the enzymes that advantage a given DNA molecule (for example, by producing nucléotides) will automatically advantage the neighbouring DNA molecules. This might be viewed as "parasitism by default". Therefore the selection pressure on DNA molecules will be much lower, since there is not a definitive advantage for the "lucky" DNA molecule that produces the better enzyme over the others: all molecules in a given neighbourhood are almost equally advantaged.

If all the DNA molecule is enclosed in a cell, then the enzymes coded from the molecule will be kept close to the DNA molecule itself. The DNA molecule will directly enjoy the benefits of the enzymes it codes, and not of others. This méans other DNA molecules won't benefit from a positive mutation in a neighbouring molecule: this méans that positive mutations give immediate and selective advantage to the replicator béaring it, and not on others. This is thought to have been the one of the main driving force of evolution of life as we know it.

(Note. This is more a metaphor given for simplicity than complete accuracy, since the éarliest molecules of life, probably up to the stage of cellular life, were most likely RNA molecules, acting both as replicators and enzymes: see RNA world hypothesis . But the core of the réasoning is the same.)

Biochemically, cell-like spheroids formed by proteinoids are observed by héating amino acids with phosphoric acid as a catalyst. They béar much of the basic féatures provided by cell membranes. Proteinoid-based protocells enclosing RNA molecules could (but not necessarily should) have been the first cellular life forms on éarth.