Investigating Prebiotic Protocells for A Comprehensive Understanding of the Origins of Life: A Prebiotic Systems Chemistry Perspective

Overview

Journal Life (Basel)

Specialty Biology

Date 2019 Jun 12

PMID 31181679

Citations 17

Authors

Augustin Lopez

Michele Fiore

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Protocells are supramolecular systems commonly used for numerous applications, such as the formation of self-evolvable systems, in systems chemistry and synthetic biology. Certain types of protocells imitate plausible prebiotic compartments, such as giant vesicles, that are formed with the hydration of thin films of amphiphiles. These constructs can be studied to address the emergence of life from a non-living chemical network. They are useful tools since they offer the possibility to understand the mechanisms underlying any living cellular system: Its formation, its metabolism, its replication and its evolution. Protocells allow the investigation of the synergies occurring in a web of chemical compounds. This cooperation can explain the transition between chemical (inanimate) and biological systems (living) due to the discoveries of emerging properties. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of relevant concept in prebiotic protocell research.

Citing Articles

The Origin(s) of LUCA: Computer Simulation of a New Theory.

Tang S, Gao M Life (Basel). 2025; 15(1).

PMID: 39860015 PMC: 11766493. DOI: 10.3390/life15010075.

The Possible Crystallization Process in the Origin of Bacteria, Archaea, Viruses, and Mobile Elements.

Yoshimura A, Seki M Biology (Basel). 2025; 14(1.

PMID: 39857234 PMC: 11763024. DOI: 10.3390/biology14010003.

Bioinspired photocatalytic systems towards compartmentalized artificial photosynthesis.

Velasco-Garcia L, Casadevall C Commun Chem. 2023; 6(1):263.

PMID: 38049562 PMC: 10695942. DOI: 10.1038/s42004-023-01069-z.

Spark of Life: Role of Electrotrophy in the Emergence of Life.

Pillot G, Santiago O, Kerzenmacher S, Liebgott P Life (Basel). 2023; 13(2).

PMID: 36836714 PMC: 9961546. DOI: 10.3390/life13020356.

Colony-like Protocell Superstructures.

Katke C, Pedrueza-Villalmanzo E, Spustova K, Ryskulov R, Kaplan C, Gozen I ACS Nano. 2023; 17(4):3368-3382.

PMID: 36795609 PMC: 9979656. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.2c08093.

References

Deamer D, Damer B, Kompanichenko V . Hydrothermal Chemistry and the Origin of Cellular Life. Astrobiology. 2019; 19(12):1523-1537. DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1979. View

Chen I, Walde P . From self-assembled vesicles to protocells. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2010; 2(7):a002170. PMC: 2890201. DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a002170. View

Rao M, Eichberg M, Oro J . Synthesis of phosphatidylcholine under possible primitive earth conditions. J Mol Evol. 1982; 18(3):196-202. DOI: 10.1007/BF01733046. View

Robertson M, Joyce G . Highly efficient self-replicating RNA enzymes. Chem Biol. 2014; 21(2):238-45. PMC: 3943892. DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2013.12.004. View

Groen J, Deamer D, Kros A, Ehrenfreund P . Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as plausible prebiotic membrane components. Orig Life Evol Biosph. 2012; 42(4):295-306. PMC: 3427487. DOI: 10.1007/s11084-012-9292-3. View

Biscans A . Exploring the Emergence of RNA Nucleosides and Nucleotides on the Early Earth. Life (Basel). 2018; 8(4). PMC: 6316623. DOI: 10.3390/life8040057. View

Spitzer J, Poolman B . The role of biomacromolecular crowding, ionic strength, and physicochemical gradients in the complexities of life's emergence. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2009; 73(2):371-88. PMC: 2698416. DOI: 10.1128/MMBR.00010-09. View

Fiore M, Madanamoothoo W, Berlioz-Barbier A, Maniti O, Girard-Egrot A, Buchet R . Giant vesicles from rehydrated crude mixtures containing unexpected mixtures of amphiphiles formed under plausibly prebiotic conditions. Org Biomol Chem. 2017; 15(19):4231-4240. DOI: 10.1039/c7ob00708f. View

Lentini R, Yeh Martin N, Mansy S . Communicating artificial cells. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2016; 34:53-61. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2016.06.013. View

10.

Monnard P, Deamer D . Preparation of vesicles from nonphospholipid amphiphiles. Methods Enzymol. 2003; 372:133-51. DOI: 10.1016/S0076-6879(03)72008-4. View

11.

Seredyuk V, Menger F . Membrane-bound protein in giant vesicles: induced contraction and growth. J Am Chem Soc. 2004; 126(39):12256-7. DOI: 10.1021/ja040151s. View

12.

Budin I, Debnath A, Szostak J . Concentration-driven growth of model protocell membranes. J Am Chem Soc. 2012; 134(51):20812-9. PMC: 3530389. DOI: 10.1021/ja310382d. View

13.

Stewart J . Colorimetric determination of phospholipids with ammonium ferrothiocyanate. Anal Biochem. 1980; 104(1):10-4. DOI: 10.1016/0003-2697(80)90269-9. View

14.

Yu W, Sato K, Wakabayashi M, Nakaishi T, Ko-Mitamura E, Shima Y . Synthesis of functional protein in liposome. J Biosci Bioeng. 2005; 92(6):590-3. DOI: 10.1263/jbb.92.590. View

15.

Miller S, Bada J . Submarine hot springs and the origin of life. Nature. 1988; 334(6183):609-11. DOI: 10.1038/334609a0. View

16.

Stano P . Is Research on "Synthetic Cells" Moving to the Next Level?. Life (Basel). 2018; 9(1). PMC: 6463193. DOI: 10.3390/life9010003. View

17.

Wills P, Carter Jr C . Insuperable problems of the genetic code initially emerging in an RNA world. Biosystems. 2017; 164:155-166. PMC: 5895081. DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2017.09.006. View

18.

Oro J, Kimball A . Synthesis of purines under possible primitive earth conditions. I. Adenine from hydrogen cyanide. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1961; 94:217-27. DOI: 10.1016/0003-9861(61)90033-9. View

19.

Hanczyc M, Fujikawa S, Szostak J . Experimental models of primitive cellular compartments: encapsulation, growth, and division. Science. 2003; 302(5645):618-22. PMC: 4484575. DOI: 10.1126/science.1089904. View

20.

Fanti A, Gammuto L, Mavelli F, Stano P, Marangoni R . Do protocells preferentially retain macromolecular solutes upon division/fragmentation? A study based on the extrusion of POPC giant vesicles. Integr Biol (Camb). 2017; 10(1):6-17. DOI: 10.1039/c7ib00138j. View