membranes – My WordPress Site

Artistic representation of late Hadean Earth ≈4 Ga ago, created with the AI software “Sora”. -- Life

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life

Chemical Routes to Primitive Membranes: Prebiotic Lipid Formation at the Origin of Life

by Keith CowingApril 2, 2026April 2, 2026

The origin of life is, to the best of our knowledge, impossible to imagine without the formation of complex prebiotic biomolecules such as RNA, DNA, proteins and lipids.

The proposed mechanism for vesicle formation on Titan. (1) Methane lakes and seas on Titan’s surface become coated with a film of amphiphiles. (2) Methane raindrops splash the lake surface. (3) Splashes create a mist of droplets coated in the same film. (4) Droplets settle back onto the lake and sink, becoming coated in a bilayer which becomes a vesicle. Christian Mayer (Universität Duisburg-Essen) and Conor Nixon (NASA Goddard)

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Titan

NASA Research Shows Path Toward Protocells on Titan

by Keith CowingJuly 30, 2025July 30, 2025

Legends: FA—fatty acid; PL—phospholipid (i.e., phosphatidic acid here); G—glycerophosphate; Gp—glycerophosphate precursor (e.g., glycerol); GR—glycerophosphate-synthetase ribozyme (here representing the ribozyme favoring the synthesis of phospholipids). The glycerophosphates produced through the catalysis of GR may reach the membrane and non-enzymatically react with fatty acids therein to form phosphatidic acids (the phospholipid molecules synthesized on the inner layer of the membrane may flip to the outer layer). The formation of phospholipids on the membrane would prevent fatty acids from leaving the membrane to a certain extent, which results in a net inflow of fatty acids in the lipid competition. With the growth of the membrane, the number of GR within the protocell may increase as a result of RNA replication. -- PLoS

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life

Evolution Associated With The Membrane-takeover At An Early Stage Of Life

by Keith CowingJune 21, 2025June 21, 2025

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

New Research Suggests Rainwater Helped Form The First Protocell Walls

by Keith CowingAugust 22, 2024August 22, 2024

Call For Virtual Reviewers

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology

Prebiotic Membrane Structures Mimic the Morphology of Alleged Early Traces of Life on Earth

by Keith CowingMay 14, 2024

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life

Membrane Permeability Selection Drove the Stereochemistry of Life

by Keith CowingMay 9, 2024September 18, 2025

Schematic view of the mass range in which a fractionally large exomoon can form by an impact. The horizontal axis represents the mantle composition and the vertical axis represents the planetary mass normalized by the Earth mass M⊕. Rocky planets smaller than 6 M⊕ and icy planets smaller than 1 M⊕ are capable of forming fractionally large moons as indicated by the orange shading. Our prediction is consistent with planet–moon systems in the solar system. -- astro-ph.EP

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life

Membrane Structure Obtained In An Experimental Evolution Process

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2023January 30, 2023