Origins and Evolution of Life

Modelling the prebiotic origins of regulation & agency in evolving protocell ecologies

This paper introduces a simulation platform to model how regulation and agency emerge in protocell ecologies under prebiotic conditions.

Characterizing mixed single chain amphiphile-based coacervates as a robust protocell system

This paper characterizes mixed single chain amphiphile-based coacervates as protocell systems, showing RNA sequestration and nonenzymatic template-directed primer extension.

Nighttime and daytime scenarios in Darwinian liposome evolution under UV-driven natural selection

This study investigates how nighttime and daytime UV exposure affects liposome evolution, showing that negative buoyancy and ferric salts protect liposomes from UV damage, supporting a Darwinian evolution model for early life.

Expanding the space of self-reproducing RNAs using probabilistic generative models

The paper uses probabilistic generative models to estimate the number of self-reproducing RNAs and finds that at least 10^39 such ribozymes may exist.

Agnostic Tools for Life Detection: A Multiscale Approach to Biological and Chemical Reaction Networks

The paper evaluates macroscale and microscale metrics to distinguish biotic from abiotic chemical reaction networks and proposes an agnostic toolset for life detection.

Primitive Molecular Buffering by Low-Multivalency Coacervates

This study investigates how coacervates resist changes in molecular composition under varying salinity and pH, showing they can buffer molecules like RNA and maintain internal stability.

A niche construction-based perspective on chemical evolution before replication and reproduction

This paper presents a niche construction-based theory of evolution without reproduction, arguing for inorganic catalysts as units of selection in prebiotic chemical evolution.

Protometabolically generated NADH mediates material properties of aqueous dispersions to coacervate microdroplets

The paper investigates how NADH production affects the phase behavior of polyarginine in bicarbonate buffer, showing that it can tune material properties between precipitates, homogeneous solution, and liquid droplets.

Potentially Prebiotic Isocyanide Activation Chemistry Drives RNA Assembly via both Nonenzymatic and Ribozyme-catalyzed Ligation

This study shows prebiotic isocyanide chemistry activates RNA building blocks, enabling both nonenzymatic and ribozyme-catalyzed RNA ligation, supporting a unified model for RNA assembly on early Earth.

Prebiotic gas flow environment enables isothermal nucleic acid replication

This study demonstrates that an isothermal prebiotic gas flow environment enables exponential DNA replication by concentrating nucleic acids and reducing salt concentration.

Gluconeogenesis in Aqueous Microdroplets: Non-Enzymatic Generation of Glucose

This study demonstrates non-enzymatic glucose synthesis from pyruvate in aqueous microdroplets, mimicking gluconeogenesis without catalysts or external energy.

Peptides at vesicle and mineral prebiotic interfaces

This study investigates how peptides interact with mineral surfaces and lipid vesicles, showing acidic residues bind minerals and arginine enhances phosphate mobilization, while different amino acid alphabets affect vesicle stability.

From experimental clues to theoretical modeling: Evolution associated with the membrane-takeover at an early stage of life

The paper uses computer modeling of RNA-based protocells to explore how membrane-takeover could have driven early evolutionary processes by promoting phospholipid synthesis and related functional RNA species.

Conditions enabling the persistence of cooperating ribozymes without cellular encapsulation

This study develops a computational model of cooperative replicating polymer systems to explore how prebiotic environments with micro-compartments enable the persistence of cooperating polymers.

Stereoselectivity of Aminoacyl-RNA Loop-closing Ligation

This study shows that aminoacyl-RNA loop-closing ligation is stereoselective, favoring L-amino acids over D-amino acids, and suggests this process could have contributed to the emergence of homochirality in amino acids.

Nonenzymatic RNA copying with a potentially primordial genetic alphabet

This paper investigates a primordial genetic alphabet using 2-thiouridine (s2U), 2-thiocytidine (s2C), inosine (I), and adenine (A), showing that their base pairs are isoenergetic and isomorphic, enabling balanced nucleotide incorporation in nonenzymatic RNA copying.

Membrane permeability selection drove the stereochemistry of life

The paper shows hybrid membranes select for D-ribose, deoxyribose, and specific L-amino acids, suggesting membrane permeability influenced life's stereochemistry.

De Novo Protocell Membrane Formation Fueled by Primitive Metabolites

This study demonstrates the de novo formation of lipid bilayers from primitive metabolites without preexisting membranes or templates.

A Comparative Study of Novel Microscopic Entities in Rock Samples: Implications for Panspermia and the Origin of Life.

The paper describes the discovery of novel microscopic structures in a rock sample, suggests a non-terrestrial origin, and proposes a new taxonomic classification.

Thermodynamic consistency of autocatalytic cycles

This paper studies the computational detection of minimal autocatalytic cycles in reaction networks and evaluates how thermodynamic constraints affect their compatibility and realizability.

Compositional selection of phospholipid compartments in icy environments drives the inheritance of encapsulated genetic information

The paper shows that phospholipid composition in icy environments influences vesicle growth and leads to selective enrichment of genetic material.

Autocatalytic assembly of a chimeric aminoacyl-RNA synthetase ribozyme

This study describes an autocatalytic assembly pathway that generates a chimeric aminoacyl-RNA synthetase ribozyme capable of self-sustaining and assembling other ribozymes.

Size control and oscillations of active droplets in synthetic cells

This study demonstrates spatio-temporal oscillations in synthetic cells through a size control mechanism that converts chemical fuel into waste, sustaining oscillations for hundreds of periods.

Self-growing protocell models in aqueous two-phase system induced by internal DNA replication reaction

This paper demonstrates self-growing artificial cell models using dextran-rich droplets in an aqueous two-phase system, coupled with DNA replication and transcription-translation systems.

Heat flows solubilize apatite to boost phosphate availability for prebiotic chemistry

This study shows heat flows solubilize apatite, increasing phosphate availability for prebiotic chemistry by up-concentrating and boosting its solubility.

Discovery of single-stranded DNA in meteorite-derived cultures: evidence of novel genetic elements.

This study identifies novel single-stranded DNA sequences in meteorite-derived cultures, suggesting potential roles in autoreplication and extremophilic adaptations.

A synthetic cell with integrated DNA self-replication and membrane biosynthesis

This paper engineers synthetic cells capable of DNA self-replication, transcription-translation, and membrane synthesis, showing genetic factors dominate over metabolic interactions in module integration.

Biomathematical enzyme kinetics model of prebiotic autocatalytic RNA networks: degenerating parasite-specific hyperparasite catalysts confer parasite resistance and herald the birth of molecular immunity

The paper develops a biomathematical enzyme kinetics model of prebiotic autocatalytic RNA networks, showing that hyperparasites confer parasite resistance and explain the origin of molecular immunity.

Darwinian Evolution of Self-Replicating DNA in a Synthetic Protocell

The paper demonstrates sustainable replication and Darwinian evolution of a DNA self-replicator in liposome compartments using a cell-free protein synthesis system.

Overcoming nucleotide bias in the nonenzymatic copying of RNA templates.

This study demonstrates a method to overcome nucleotide bias in nonenzymatic RNA copying using a prebiotically plausible mixture of nucleotides and oligonucleotides.