Origins and Evolution of Life

Hybrid Protocells based on Coacervate-Templated Fatty Acid Vesicles combine Improved Membrane Stability with Functional Interior Protocytoplasm

This paper describes hybrid protocells combining coacervate droplets with fatty acid membranes, showing improved stability and functional interior chemistry.

From messy chemistry to ecology: autocatalysis and heritability in prebiotically plausible chemical systems

The paper investigates heritability and autocatalysis in prebiotic chemical systems through serial dilution experiments and chemical reaction network analysis.

Membrane bound geranylated RNAs establish a primitive peptide synthesis system

The paper demonstrates that geranylated non-canonical nucleotides enable RNA to anchor to lipid membranes, facilitating a primitive peptide synthesis system in a protocellular environment.

Solutions of ferrous salts protect liposomes from UV damage: implications for Life Origin

The paper tests if ferrous salt solutions protect liposomes from UV damage, supporting a hypothesis about early life origin.

Primitive purine biosynthesis connects ancient geochemistry to modern metabolism

The paper models ancient metabolic networks to show purine synthesis was a bottleneck in metabolic evolution, requiring non-autocatalytic phosphoryl agents and leading to coenzyme emergence.

An interdependent Metabolic and Genetic Network shows emergent properties in vitro

This study constructs a metabolic and genetic linked in vitro network that generates its own building blocks from non-living matter and demonstrates life-like behavior.

Ribozyme-phenotype coupling in peptide-based coacervate protocells

This study shows that ribozyme activity in coacervate droplets enhances polymer length and alters droplet behavior, linking genotype to phenotype in protocells.

Protection of catalytic cofactors by polypeptides as a driver for the emergence of primordial enzymes

The paper identifies heme protection by polypeptides as a mechanism enhancing catalytic efficiency in ancestral proteins, suggesting it may have driven the evolution of enzymes.

Trinucleotide building blocks enable exponential ribozyme-catalysed RNA replication and open-ended growth of diverse RNA sequence pools

RNA trinucleotide substrates and physicochemical cycles enable RNA-catalysed replication of double-stranded RNA and partial self-replication of an RNA polymerase ribozyme.

Scaling laws in enzyme function reveal a new kind of biochemical universality

The paper identifies universal scaling laws in enzyme functions across diverse organisms, suggesting a new form of biochemical universality.

Competition between bridged dinucleotides and activated mononucleotides determines the error frequency of nonenzymatic RNA primer extension

The paper investigates error frequency in nonenzymatic RNA primer extension by analyzing sequence context and the competition between bridged dinucleotides and mononucleotides.

Experimental tests of functional molecular regeneration via a standard framework for coordinating synthetic cell building

The paper evaluates the capacity of a cell-free system to remake life-essential functions and finds that only 19 of 23 tested components can be remade, with some functions remaining incomplete.

A self-templated route to monodisperse complex droplets as artificial extremophile-mimic from coacervate-liposome interplay

This paper describes a method to create monodisperse complex droplets that mimic extremophiles by using coacervate-liposome interactions.

In search of the RNA world on Mars

This study investigates whether early Mars could have supported RNA polymer stability by analyzing metal-catalyzed RNA degradation under simulated Martian conditions.

A thermodynamic atlas of carbon redox chemical space

The paper compares the thermodynamic properties of biological and non-biological compounds in redox chemical space, finding metabolites have lower Gibbs energies and specific functional group enrichments.

Critical events of the origins of life

The paper uses a mathematical model and simulations to show that high-fidelity RNA replication depends on polymerase fitness, sequence specificity, and genome size, suggesting replication as a key event in the origin of life.

A self-regenerating synthetic cell model

This paper demonstrates molecular self-regeneration in a synthetic cell model using a minimal transcription-translation system and identifies key factors for robust system function.

Deep sequencing of nonenzymatic RNA primer extension

The paper introduces a deep-sequencing methodology to study nonenzymatic RNA primer extension and demonstrates its effectiveness in analyzing sequence access and fidelity.

Light-driven ATP production promotes mRNA biosynthesis inside hybrid multi-compartment artificial protocells

This paper demonstrates a hybrid multi-compartment artificial protocell system that uses light-driven ATP production to sustain mRNA biosynthesis.

In silicon emergence of an autonomous artificial metabolic system

This paper evolves an artificial metabolic system in silicon to study autonomous metabolic mechanisms, finding that ATP/ADP and structured AGS are critical for autonomy.

Boundary conditions for early life converge to an organo-sulfur metabolism

The paper shows that under certain boundary conditions, early life could have relied on an organo-sulfur metabolism driven by a modified reductive TCA cycle.

A synthetic metabolic network for physicochemical homeostasis

The paper constructs a synthetic metabolic network in vitro to maintain ATP levels and physicochemical homeostasis, demonstrating energy conservation and cell volume regulation in a cell-like system.

Assembly of a functional ribozyme from short oligomers by enhanced non-enzymatic ligation

This study demonstrates that functional RNA ligase ribozymes can be assembled from short oligonucleotides using modified ligation chemistry.

A network theory of the origin of life

The paper proposes a network theory suggesting that the origin of life involved RNA and polypeptides interacting through inhibitory mechanisms to increase the probability of nucleation events.