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Cited by 58Origins and Evolution of LifeLipid Membrane Structure and BehaviorPaleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

Isoprenoids enhance the stability of fatty acid membranes at the emergence of life potentially leading to an early lipid divide

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Jordan, Sean F., Nee, Eloise, Lane, Nick·2019·Interface Focus
DOI 10.1098/rsfs.2019.0067PMC PMC6802135
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Abstract

Two key problems concern cell membranes during the emergence and early evolution of life: what was their initial composition, and why did the membranes of archaea and bacteria diverge? The composition of the first cell membranes could shed light on the most likely environment for the emergence of life. The opposing stereochemistry of modern lipid glycerol-phosphate headgroups in bacteria and archaea suggests that early membranes were composed of single chain amphiphiles, perhaps both fatty acids and isoprenoids. We investigated the effect of adding isoprenoids to fatty acid membranes using a combination of UV–visible spectroscopy, confocal microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. We tested the stability of these membranes across a pH range and under different concentrations of ionic species relevant to oceanic hydrothermal environments, including Na 2+ , Cl − , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , HC O 3 − , Fe 3+ , Fe 2+ and S 2− . We also tested the assembly of vesicles in the presence of Fe particles and FeS precipitates. We found that isoprenoids enhance the stability of membranes in the presence of salts but require 30-fold higher concentrations for membrane formation. Intriguingly, isoprenoids strongly inhibit the tendency of vesicles to aggregate together in the presence of either Fe particles or FeS precipitates. These striking physical differences in the stability and aggregation of protocells may have shaped the divergence of bacteria and archaea in early hydrothermal environments.

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  • Using mixtures of amphiphiles of differing tail lengths or adding other types of amphiphiles such as isoprenoids can yield vesicles significantly more resistant to higher salinity and pH values.

    “recent work shows that using mixtures of amphiphiles of differing tail lengths (Jordan et al. 2019b), or the addition of other types of amphiphiles such as isoprenoids (Jordan et al. 2019a)-a more realistic simulation of the 'dirty chemistry' world of prebiotic chemistry-can yield vesicles which are significantly more resistant to higher salinity and pH values.”

    From The Emergence of Life (2019) · cites this paper as Jordan et al. 2019a

    The Results section, “Effect of seawater on vesicle formation,” reports that isoprenoid-containing DA/GOH vesicles remained dispersed in 600 mM NaCl while DA/DOH vesicles aggregated. The Discussion reports vesicle formation at pH 7–13, but says this is the same range as DA/DOH: isoprenoid addition did not improve high-pH tolerance relative to that amphiphile mixture. The differing-tail-length mixture is attached to a separate citation, not this source. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Jordan, S. F., Nee, E., & Lane, N.
Affiliations
  • Centre for Life's Origin and Evolution, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Darwin Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
  • University College London (GB)
ORCID
Venue
Interface Focus
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2019-10-18
Volume
9
Issue
6
Pages
20190067
ISSN
  • 2042-8898 (ISSN-L)
  • 2042-8901
DOI
10.1098/rsfs.2019.0067
PMC
PMC6802135
OpenAlex
W2981184416
Cited by
58
References
12
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4
FWCI
3.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Interface Focus (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
Keywords
terpenoids, origin of life, protocells, membrane stability, single-chain amphiphiles, vesicle aggregation, hydrothermal environments, iron, iron sulfide, pH effect, ion effects, membrane assembly

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