title: The Cell: A Molecular Approach, Fifth Edition
author:  Geoffrey M. Cooper 
description: The authors have done a great job of explaining complex concepts in a very readable style. ... The illustrations are quite good as is the accompanying student website which has animations and other study tools available. The Key Experiments presented in each chapter give the reader a sense of history for the accomplishments presented, a plus for any student. I also appreciated that the authors added the clinical relevance of some discoveries in the Molecular Medicine sections. --Jill Loukides, Focus on Microbiology Education
zlib_text: # Part 1  
  The Physical Aspects
  
  
  Pier Luigi Luisi and Pasquale Stano (eds.)The Minimal CellThe Biophysics of
  Cell Compartment and the Origin of Cell
  Functionality10.1007/978-90-481-9944-0_1(C) Springer Netherlands 2011
  
  # 1. Towards a Minimal Cytoplasm
  
  Jacqueline D. Keighron1 and Christine D. Keating1
  
  (1)
  
  Department of Chemistry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park,
  16802, PA, USA
  
  Christine D. Keating
  
  Email: [keating@chem.psu.edu](mailto:keating@chem.psu.edu)
  
  Abstract
  
  Cytoplasm is common to all living cells and is increasingly recognized for its
  active role in facilitating and regulating intracellular reactions. Models for
  the crowded, dynamic, and compartmentalized cytoplasm should therefore be
  ­considered for incorporation in minimal cells. This chapter begins with an
  ­introduction to biological cytoplasm and then describes several approaches to
  ­primitive models of the intracellular environment. Key aspects of the
  ­cytoplasm that have been incorporated in model sy