Beilstein J. Org. Chem.2017,13, 1551–1563, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.155
environment; prebiotic synthesis; protocell; Review
Introduction
Research in the origins of life field or abiogenesis (emergence of life from non-life) attempts to answer a question that has fascinated humanity for millennia: Where do we come from? Whereas early attempts were more metaphysical in nature
clear limitations when these various “prebiotic” molecular systems are to be consolidated in a single protocell model. Moreover, situations emerge where one line of experimental enquiry becomes at odds with another feature that is equally integral to the whole. An example of this involves the selection
research groups have demonstrated their abilities to induce formation of evolved protocell systems. For instance, they have been shown to be capable of accumulating small molecules on their charged surfaces (electrostatic interactions) [49] or within pores and brines by thermophoresis and convection
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Graphical Abstract
Figure 1:
(A) Possible approaches to the historical reconstruction. Two complementary approaches exist: top-d...
Beilstein J. Org. Chem.2017,13, 1388–1395, doi:10.3762/bjoc.13.135
Conceiving the process of biogenesis as the evolutionary development of highly dynamic and integrated protocell populations provides the most appropriate framework to address the difficult problem of how prebiotic chemistry bridged the gap to full-fledged living organisms on the early Earth. In this
contribution we briefly discuss the implications of taking dynamic, functionally integrated protocell systems (rather than complex reaction networks in bulk solution, sets of artificially evolvable replicating molecules, or even these same replicating molecules encapsulated in passive compartments) as the
experimental challenges aimed at constructing protocell systems made of a diversity of functionally coupled components and, thereby, at characterizing more precisely the type of prebiotic evolutionary dynamics that such protocells could engage in.
Keywords: functional integration; origins of life; prebiotic
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Figure 1:
Protocells as the main units of prebiotic evolution: three hypothetical stages of development towar...