Back Cover in Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry

An illustration depicts the back cover of a book titled, Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry (eighth edition).

The back cover has the Macmillan international higher education logo at the bottom of the page.

The text on the back cover reads, On the Cover: In this artistic rendering, a protocell composed of a bilayer of fatty acids surrounds an aqueous compartment containing an R N A ribozyme and nucleic acids. Protocells are used by biochemists to explore reactions that could mimic those that led to the origin of life on Earth. Billions of years ago, hydrophobic molecules may have formed cell-like assemblies like protocells in which molecules capable of replicating themselves could be concentrated and protected from the external environment. These likely provided the origins of the membranes, nucleic acids, and catalysts found in today’s cells.