The stochastic evolution of a protocell. The Gillespie algorithm in a dynamically varying volume

Abstract: In the present paper we propose an improvement of the Gillespie algorithm allowing us to study the time evolution of an ensemble of chemical reactions occurring in a varying volume, whose growth is directly related to the amount of some specific molecules, belonging to the reactions set. This allows us to study the stochastic evolution of a protocell, whose volume increases because of the production of container molecules. Several protocells models are considered and compared with the deterministic models.