2024-08-21 ヒューストン大学(UH)
<関連情報>
- https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2024/august/08212024-karim-raindrop-origin-of-life.php
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn9657
雨にさらされたコアセルベート液滴が最初の安定した原始細胞を作った? Did the exposure of coacervate droplets to rain make them the first stable protocells?
Aman Agrawal, Aleksandar Radakovic, Anusha Vonteddu, Syed Rizvi, […], and Jack W. Szostak
Science Advances Published:21 Aug 2024
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn9657
Abstract
Membraneless coacervate microdroplets have long been proposed as model protocells as they can grow, divide, and concentrate RNA by natural partitioning. However, the rapid exchange of RNA between these compartments, along with their rapid fusion, both within minutes, means that individual droplets would be unable to maintain their separate genetic identities. Hence, Darwinian evolution would not be possible, and the population would be vulnerable to collapse due to the rapid spread of parasitic RNAs. In this study, we show that distilled water, mimicking rain/freshwater, leads to the formation of electrostatic crosslinks on the interface of coacervate droplets that not only suppress droplet fusion indefinitely but also allow the spatiotemporal compartmentalization of RNA on a timescale of days depending on the length and structure of RNA. We suggest that these nonfusing membraneless droplets could potentially act as protocells with the capacity to evolve compartmentalized ribozymes in prebiotic environments.
