Acyl Phosphates as Chemically Fueled Building Blocks for Self-Sustaining Protocells.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
; 63(30): e202406094, 2024 07 22.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38743852
ABSTRACT
Lipids spontaneously assemble into vesicle-forming membranes. Such vesicles serve as compartments for even the simplest living systems. Vesicles have been extensively studied for constructing synthetic cells or as models for protocells-the cells hypothesized to have existed before life. These compartments exist almost always close to equilibrium. Life, however, exists out of equilibrium. In this work, we studied vesicle-based compartments regulated by a non-equilibrium chemical reaction network that converts activating agents. In this way, the compartments require a constant or periodic supply of activating agents to sustain themselves. Specifically, we use activating agents to condense carboxylates and phosphate esters into acyl phosphate-based lipids that form vesicles. These vesicles can only be sustained when condensing agents are present; without them, they decay. We demonstrate that the chemical reaction network can operate on prebiotic activating agents, opening the door to prebiotically plausible, self-sustainable protocells that compete for resources. In future work, such protocells should be endowed with a genotype, e.g., self-replicating RNA structures, to alter the protocell's behavior. Such protocells could enable Darwinian evolution in a prebiotically plausible chemical system.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Células Artificiales
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania