Primitive Membrane Formation, Characteristics and Roles in the Emergent Properties of a Protocell

Abstract

All contemporary living cells are composed of a collection of self-assembled molecular elements that by themselves are non-living but through the creation of a network exhibit the emergent properties of self-maintenance, self-reproduction, and evolution. This short review deals with the on-going research that aims at either understanding how life emerged on the early Earth or creating artificial cells assembled from a collection of small chemicals. In particular, this article focuses on the work carried out to investigate how self-assembled compartments, such as amphiphile and lipid vesicles, contribute to the emergent properties as part of a greater system.

Keywords

• vesicles
• liposomes
• compartmentalization
• protocell
• artificial cells
• membrane supported reaction networks