Experimental Retracement of Terrestrial Origin of an Excitable Cell: Was it Predictable?

Fox, Sidney W.; Bahn, Peter; Pappelis, A. J.; Yu, Bo

doi:10.1007/978-94-009-1712-5_2

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The similarity of the electrical properties of membraneless condensates and living cells has attracted much attention in the context of the problem of the origin of life [35][36][37][38]. Indeed, protocells, condensates of the simplest peptides, could not get at their disposal a membrane at least to some extent similar to the axon membrane with complex protein structures (pumps and channels).…”

Section: Electrical Potentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membraneless physiology of the living cell. The past and the present

Matveev

2022

4open

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Since the 1880s, the concept of compartmentalizing through membranes has taken a firm place in cell physiology and has defined the objects, methods, and goals of physiologists’ research for decades. A huge mass of biologists know about the important role of intra-membrane pumps, channels, and lipids, and various hypotheses about the origin of life often begin with explanations about how the lipid membrane occurred, without which it is impossible to imagine the origin of a living cell. Against this background, there was a dissonance of statements that there are membraneless organelles in the cell, the functions of which are rapidly expanding under our eyes. Physically, they are similar to coacervate droplets, which from time to time were used to explain the origin of life, and now the coacervates are being more and more often discussed when describing the physics of the nucleus and cytoplasm of modern cells. However, ideas about the coacervate nature of cytoplasm/protoplasm originated in the first half of the 19th Century, when the contents of cells were likened to jelly, but this approach gradually faded into the shadows. Nevertheless, limited research in this area continued and was completed in the form of a membraneless cell physiology. Now that the focus of attention has turned to membraneless compartmentalization, it’s time to remember the past. The sorption properties of proteins are the physical basis of membraneless cell because of water adsorbed by proteins changes the physical state of any biomolecular system, from supramolecular and subcellular structures to the cell as a whole. A thermodynamic aqueous phase is formed because adsorbed water does not mix with ordinary water and, in this cause, is separated from the surrounding solution in the form of a compartment. This article discusses the fundamental physical properties of such a phase – a biophase. As it turned out, the Meyer–Overton rule, which led to the idea of a lipid membrane, also applies to membraneless condensates.

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Section: Electrical Potentialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Membraneless physiology of the living cell. The past and the present

Matveev

2022

4open

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“…Basing on the listed three conditions, a lot of experiments on the origin of life have been carried out. Several types of prebiotic models with multiform variations were involved in these experiments: coacervates [6], RNA World [7], Protein World [8], Lipid World [9], and Aromatic hydrocarbons World [10]; besides, some researchers have developed specific 'biomineral' versions [11]. The appearance of some signs of the living state in the models has been actually proven during the experiments: catalytic activity, the ability for division, the selective extraction of a substance, and even self-replication.…”

Section: Three Accepted Required Conditions For the Origin Of Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The rise of homochirality degree during the proposed experiments could also indicate the initial sparks of biochemical processes. One more criterion follows of the experiments by Fox and co-authors [8,31]: although abiotically synthesized proteinoid chains are similar to biological protein ones, they cannot be arranged into tertiary structures; the appearance of the last ones could also be traced in the course of the modified experiments. It is expected that the continuous self-assembly of prebiotic microsystems under oscillating conditions (close to the critical point: assembly and re-assembly) facilitates the incessant recombination of (macro)molecules.…”

Section: The Next Step Of Laboratory Simulations On the Origin Of Lifmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rise of A Habitable Planet: Four Required Conditions for the Origin of Life in the Universe

Kompanichenko

2019

Geosciences

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The advanced version of the author’s inversion concept of the origin of terrestrial life and its application for life in the Universe has been substantiated. A key step in the transition to life consists in the thermodynamic inversion of non-living prebiotic microsystems when the contributions of free energy (F) and information (I) become prevalent over the contribution of entropy (S). It is based the thermodynamic corridor that is mandatory for all chemical scenarios for the origin of life: F + I < S (prebiotic microsystem) → F + I ≈ S (intermediate stage, inversion moment) → F + I > S (primary living unit). A prebiotic organic microsystem can reach the intermediate state between non-life and life only under high-frequency and multilevel oscillations of physic-chemical parameters in hydrothermal environments. The oscillations are considered the fourth required condition for the origin of life, in addition to the three well-known ones: the availability of organic matter, an aqueous medium, and a source of energy. The emergence of initial life sparks in nonequilibrium prebiotic microsystems (being at the intermediate state) proceeds through the continuous response (counteraction) of prebiotic microsystems to incessant physic-chemical oscillations (stress). The next step of laboratory simulations on the origin of life directed to the exploration of the microsystems’ response to high-frequency oscillations (>10−10 s–<30 min) is proposed. Finally, some fragments of the general scenario of the origin of life in the Universe based on the whole four required conditions have been outlined.

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“…Plenty of experiments on thermal abiotic synthesis of polyamino acids made by Fox with co-workers demonstrated a principal difference between functional protein sequences synthesized in vivo (i.e. through prescriptive instructions), and random (non-functional) proteinoid sequences synthesized in vitro: the latter were devoid of some important properties peculiar to functional proteins (in particular, the tertiary structure) (40,43).…”

Section: Emergence Of Bioinformation On the Earthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of biological organization through thermodynamic inversion

Kompanichenko¹

2014

Front Biosci

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Biological organization arises under thermodynamic inversion in prebiotic systems that provide the prevalence of free energy and information contribution over the entropy contribution. The inversion might occur under specific far-from-equilibrium conditions in prebiotic systems oscillating around the bifurcation point. At the inversion moment, (physical) information characteristic of non-biological systems acquires the new features: functionality, purposefulness, and control over the life processes, which transform it into biological information. Random sequences of amino acids and nucleotides, spontaneously synthesized in the prebiotic microsystem, in the primary living unit (probiont) re-assemble into functional sequences, involved into bioinformation circulation through nucleoprotein interaction, resulted in the genetic code emergence. According to the proposed concept, oscillating three-dimensional prebiotic microsystems transformed into probionts in the changeable hydrothermal medium of the early Earth. The inversion concept states that spontaneous (accidental, random) transformations in prebiotic systems cannot produce life; it is only non-spontaneous (perspective, purposeful) transformations, which are the result of thermodynamic inversion, that lead to the negentropy conversion of prebiotic systems into initial living units.

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Experimental Retracement of Terrestrial Origin of an Excitable Cell: Was it Predictable?

Cited by 11 publications

References 34 publications

Membraneless physiology of the living cell. The past and the present

Membraneless physiology of the living cell. The past and the present

The Rise of A Habitable Planet: Four Required Conditions for the Origin of Life in the Universe

Emergence of biological organization through thermodynamic inversion

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