Nature Communications (Sep 2021)

Proliferating coacervate droplets as the missing link between chemistry and biology in the origins of life

  • Muneyuki Matsuo,
  • Kensuke Kurihara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25530-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

Read online

Coacervate droplets (CDs) are a model for protocells formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS), but protocell models able to proliferate remain undeveloped. Here, the authors report a proliferating peptide-based CD using synthesised amino acid thioesters as monomers, which could concentrate RNA and lipids, enabling RNA to protect the droplet from dissolution by lipids.