The First Cell Membranes
Abstract
Organic compounds are synthesized in the interstellar medium and can be delivered to planetary surfaces such as the early Earth, where they mix with endogenous species. Some of these compounds are amphiphilic, having polar and nonpolar groups on the same molecule. Amphiphilic compounds spontaneously self-assemble into more complex structures such as bimolecular layers, which in turn form closed membranous vesicles. The first forms of cellular life required self-assembled membranes that were likely to have been produced from amphiphilic compounds on the prebiotic Earth. Laboratory simulations show that such vesicles readily encapsulate functional macromolecules, including nucleic acids and polymerases. The goal of future investigations will be to fabricate artificial cells as models of the origin of life.
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The basic constituents of RNA molecules, such as D-ribose, phosphate, and the four bases A, G, C, and U, along with unused nucleotides, were delivered to the hydrothermal crater lake by meteorites.
“The basic constituents of RNA molecules, such as D-ribose, phosphate, and the four bases—adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and uracil (U), along with unused nucleotides, were delivered to the hydrothermal crater lake by meteorites [2,3,4].”
From The Origin of Prebiotic Information System in the Peptide/RNA World: A Simulation Model of the Evolution of Translation and the Genetic Code (2019) · cites this paper as [3]
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“Deamer et al. (2002) have concluded that it is improbable that phospholipids were available on the prebiotic Earth.”
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“Protocell + nutrients + energy > protocells + waste + heat (entropy) (see summary in Deamer et al. 2002 and in Morowitz 1992).”
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“More plausible are lipid-like species of long chain monocarboxlic acids and alcohols, and perhaps fatty acid esters, all of which form membranous vesicles in aqueous media (Deamer et al. 2002).”
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“A range of experiments shows some limited patterned replication of proteinoids, nucleic acid-like molecules, and larger structures such as miscelles in completely abiological systems [61,62].”
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“1968), the chemical building blocks of biological membranes (Deamer et al. 2002).”
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“In addition to polypeptides, a variety of other amphiphilic molecules including fatty acids and fatty alcohols could have been components of prebiotic membranes (Deamer 1997; Deamer et al. 2002).”
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“Hence, although both these processes appear to be likely in the ice envelope, several other requirements – such as the self-assembly of amphiphilic compounds into vesicles (Deamer et al., 2002; Schrum et al., 2010) – must also be fulfilled.”
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“These and other authors (Morowitz et al. 1988; Luisi and Varela 1989; Morowitz 1992; Dobson et al. 2000; Segre et al. 2001; Deamer et al. 2002) argue that amphiphile synthesis and selfassembly are key steps in the origin of boundary membranes that would be required for the origin of cellular life.”
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Terrestrial Analysis of the Organic Component of Comet Dust
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“It follows that the membrane boundary complex has a primary biological function of compartmentalization and self-assembled boundary structures defined the first forms of cellular life (Deamer et al., 2002).”
- Authors
- Deamer, D., Dworkin, J. P., Sandford, S. A., Bernstein, M. P., & Allamandola, L. J.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
- Ames Research Center (US)
- Venue
- Astrobiology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-12
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 371-381
- ISSN
- 1531-1074 (ISSN-L)
- 1557-8070
- OpenAlex
- W1998228944
- Cited by
- 270
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 0.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Astrobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Keywords
- origin of life, plasma membrane, amphiphilic molecules, self-assembly, membrane vesicles, prebiotic chemistry, interstellar medium, early Earth, nucleic acid encapsulation, artificial cells
- MeSH terms
- Origin of Life, Cell Membrane, Cells, Biological Evolution, Extraterrestrial Environment, Models, Biological, Earth, Planet, Exobiology
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