Creating a living system from nonliving matter is a great challenge in chemistry and biophysics. The early history of life can provide inspiration from the idea of the prebiotic “RNA […]
protocell
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
How The First Cell Membranes Came To Exist
Few questions have captivated humankind more than the origin of life on Earth. How did the first living cells come to exist? How did these early protocells develop the structural […]
Posted inAstropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Commercial & Private Sector, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Synthetic Cells Emulate Natural Cellular Communication
A research team from the University of Basel has succeeded in synthesizing simple, environmentally sensitive cells complete with artificial organelles. For the first time, the researchers have also been able […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Did The Exposure Of Coacervate Droplets To Rain Make Them The First Stable Protocells?
Membraneless coacervate microdroplets have long been proposed as model protocells as they can grow, divide, and concentrate RNA by natural partitioning.
![Rapid coalescence and RNA exchange between unstable protocells. (A) Schematic of preparation of coacervate model protocells. Aqueous solutions of PDDA (positively charged) and ATP (negatively charged) are mixed, along with fluorescently labeled protein or oligonucleotide molecules, to make fluorescently distinct protocell populations. (B and C) Confocal micrographs showing the coalescence of unstable protocells during mixing. Fluorescently distinct PDDA-ATP droplet populations containing fluorophore-labeled BSA or RNA were mixed, and the images were collected after 5 min. Coalescence is evident from the overlapping of red [CF488-BSA in (B) or Cy2-RNA-6nt in (C)] and blue (CF640-BSA) fluorescence in a majority of the droplets. Scale bars, 25 μm. (D and E) Confocal micrographs and the accompanying FRAP plot showing a fast (timescale of a few minutes) recovery of fluorescence from Cy2-labeled RNA of (D) 6 nt in length and (E) 49 nt in length in the photobleached droplets, suggesting a rapid exchange of RNA molecules between protocells. The fluorescence microscopy images are false colored for clarity. Scale bars, 25 μm. -- Science / UChicago](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/New-Research-Suggests-Rainwater.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
New Research Suggests Rainwater Helped Form The First Protocell Walls
One of the major unanswered questions about the origin of life is how droplets of RNA floating around the primordial soup turned into the membrane-protected packets of life we call […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
What Gave The First Molecules Their Stability?
The origins of life remain a major mystery. How were complex molecules able to form and remain intact for prolonged periods without disintegrating? A team at ORIGINS, a Munich-based Cluster […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Metabolism, Information, And Viability In A Simulated Physically-plausible Protocell
Critical experimental design issues connecting energy transduction and inheritable information within a protocell are explored and elucidated.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Stability Distillation Hypothesis For The Origin Of Life
The essence of life is a frequency distribution conversion process of molecules accompanied by changes in information.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Mars, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Could Life Have Started On Mars? Planetary Conditions That Assemble And Destroy Protocells
Early Mars was likely habitable, but could life actually have started there? While cellular life emerged from prebiotic chemistry through a pre-Darwinian selection process relevant to both Earth and Mars, […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Scripps Research Scientists Reveal How The First Cells Could Have Formed On Earth
Roughly 4 billion years ago, Earth was developing conditions suitable for life. Origin-of-life scientists often wonder if the type of chemistry found on the early Earth was similar to what […]