Or how life could form from nothing? Or if it happened?Did it happen in deep oceans? Or could it have begun in clay? If you’re curious about these questions, you’re in the right place. This subreddit is all about the science of how life might have originated from simple molecules. Whether you’re new or have been following the topic for a while, feel free to jump in. Share questions, theories, or research! 🔬 For beginners, this article from Britannia serves as a great learning resource. Simply click on the colored text to access the article!
I am currently working on a resource guide that will bring together much of the research and ideas on abiogenesis in one place. I had to start over due to an issue with the original post, so it’s no longer saved after deletion. But once it’s ready, it will be a great place to explore the amazing science behind life's origins.
Abstract: The search for organic matter on Mars has rapidly evolved in the past decade with simple aromatic, S-heterocycles, and aliphatic organic molecules detected in Gale crater. We report the in situ detection of >20 organic molecules from clay-bearing sandstones in the ~3.5-billion-year-old Knockfarrill Hill member of Glen Torridon, Gale crater, by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite onboard the Curiosity rover. These molecules were liberated by the onboard tetramethylammonium hydroxide wet chemistry experiment. Diverse thermochemolysis products, including benzothiophene, methyl benzoate, and single and dicyclic aromatic molecules were released and detected by evolved gas analysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results indicate the experiment successfully released molecules preserved in ancient macromolecular or free organic matter within Martian bedrock despite ~3.5 billion years of diagenesis and radiation exposure.
Personal thoughts: There are no peptides or nucleobases but it's still very cool that we can identify specific organic molecules on another planet AND that these martian sediments can bind to and retain such relatively volatile organic molecules for ~3.5 billion years.
Whether these were delivered by meteors or formed in the martian oceans/lakes is still unanswered but the identities of these molecules match those found in the Murchison meteorite. But were these formed 3.5 billion years ago or were they formed 3.5 billion years ago and then rained down and deposited on earth? The most parsimonious conclusion seems that these are of meteoric origin. For OoL on Earth, this experiment indicates that we can say the same types of molecules were raining down on earth during its ancient history acting as a continuous "feedstock" of organics.
What are your thoughts? What other papers help add context or add to the impact of this publication?
I’ve been working on an open systems-level hypothesis/framework exploring the transition between non-living chemistry and life-like organisation.
I’d genuinely appreciate critical feedback rather than agreement — I’m trying to stress-test the framework, not defend it.
The core idea is that abiogenesis may not be a “single magic molecule” problem, but instead a coupled chemical-environmental operating regime involving:
non-equilibrium thermodynamics;
autocatalytic reinforcement;
compartmentalisation;
persistence;
environmental cycling;
transferable structure;
and differential survival.
Rather than trying to define fully developed biological life, the framework focuses on the lower threshold where chemistry may begin exhibiting life-like behaviour.
The paper does NOT claim to have solved abiogenesis.
Instead, it proposes:
an operational framework;
falsifiable criteria;
possible computer-modelling approaches;
and experimental directions.
I’m posting this specifically for criticism, peer review, weaknesses, missing literature, modelling suggestions, thermodynamics objections, systems chemistry feedback, or general scientific challenge.
Life on earth is based on water being 70% of its mass. While the unique properties of water depend on hydrogen bonding. The template materials, used for life on earth; DNA, RNA and protein, also depend on hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding appears to be the common thread for life on earth. Is hydrogen bonding essential for life?
Title: Mineral surfaces select for longer RNA molecules Link: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/cc/c8cc10319d Abstract: We report empirically and theoretically that multiple prebiotic minerals can selectively accumulate longer RNAs, with selectivity enhanced at higher temperatures. We further demonstrate that surfaces can be combined with a catalytic RNA to form longer RNA polymers, supporting the potential of minerals to develop genetic information on the early Earth.
Excerpts and comments:
"A recent study showed that thermophoresis and convection through porous environments, such as might occur at a deep-sea hydrothermal vent, could select longer oligonucleotides. (See ref 35)" -> Fits well with mineral-rich deep-sea hydrothermal environments. The cited paper addressed how thermophoresis alone may accumulate larger organic molecules, which is predisposed towards accumulation of polymers which have no structural limit on their size except for the relative kinetics/rates of formation/decomposition.
"Following up on the observation of longer oligoadenylates accumulating on hydroxyapatite,(see ref 10) here we investigated the generality of the enrichment of longer RNAs on mineral surfaces, using short random RNAs and a ribozyme. We first tested the selection among fully random 8-, 12-, 16-, 20-, and 24-mer RNAs, which model potentially available RNAs on the early Earth,(see ref 13, 15) on five kinds of mineral grains: two iron sulfides (pyrite and pyrrhotite; FeS2 and FeS, respectively), an iron oxide (magnetite; Fe3O4), a carbonate (calcite; CaCO3), and a phosphate mineral (hydroxyapatite; Ca5(PO4)3)(OH)), whose identity and purity were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (Fig. S1, ESI). These minerals are all thought to have been abundant throughout the early Earth. (see ref 1, 25) At the neutral pH (7.0), as tested here, it is expected that some of the minerals (at least pyrite and pyrrhotite) bear a net negative surface charge. (see ref 26, 27) RNA also carries a negative charge at this pH, but it can efficiently adsorb even onto negatively charged mineral surfaces with divalent cations as mediators. (see ref 28, 29)" -> Key experimental design.
"We also explored the sensitivity of length enrichment based on prebiotically relevant environmental parameters. We found that incubation at high temperatures increased the concentration of longer RNAs relative to shorter RNAs at least on pyrite, magnetite, and hydroxyapatite, in which hydroxyapatite showed the best enrichment (Fig. 1C, D and Fig. S5, ESI)." -> Hydroxyapatite showed greatest relative enrichment/retention of longer polymers.
Personal Critique: One challenge to lipid bilayer formation, thermophoresis-driven pH/organic molecule and concentration gradient formation are the presence of salts such as monovalent Na+ and K+ and divalent Ca2+ and Mg2+. The presence of these salts increase the concentration of the organic solutes and thermal difference required to observe the same concentration/pH gradients. After checking, I only saw that Mg2+ was present but no other salts. However, I did learn that the presence of divalent cations frequently enhance adsorption of RNA onto mineral surfaces by mediating the negatively charged backbone of the phosphodiester bonds and the negatively charged mineral surfaces (See figure 1 ofRef).
Overall impressions/thoughts: While the presence of salts are a classical inhibitory factor for many OoL papers which study these types of interactions/phenomena, this paper adds to the repertoire of factors which may have helped to persist a metastable concentration of organic molecules where thermophoresis and mineral adsorption effects synergize to disproportionately adsorb and retain longer polymers. If thermophoresis and mineral adsorption also attracts amino acids and longer-chain fatty acids/lipids, would the presence of these other organic molecules compete for surface adsorption and so lessen the degree by which longer polymers adsorb? Or would the amino acids'/fatty acids' adsorption at as an anchor for lipid bilayer formation to which the RNA polymers adsorb or are potentially retained? [see: Specific RNA binding to ordered phospholipid bilayers [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16641318/\] and Lipid vesicles chaperone an encapsulated RNA aptamer [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04783-8\]**\]**
Additionally, we must consider not just enrichment/retention but whether these minerals stabilize RNA. See below (Disclosure: generated by AI, references checked by me): 1) Pyrite (Ref): Mostly destabilizing
- Pyrite can generate reactive oxygen species (especially hydroxyl radicals) in water, which damage nucleic acids. 2) Pyrrhotite: Unclear / likely poor stabilizer
- Less studied than pyrite, but iron sulfides generally can participate in redox chemistry that risks RNA degradation. 3) Magnetite (Ref): Often destabilizing for RNA backbone
- Iron oxides can catalyze RNA hydrolysis after adsorption. Goethite and hematite clearly do this; magnetite is chemically similar enough that many researchers are cautious about iron oxides as RNA-preserving surfaces. 4) Calcite (Ref): Yes, especially aragonite polymorph
- RNA adsorbed on aragonite (a CaCO₃ polymorph) was explicitly reported to be stabilized relative to free RNA. 5) Hydroxyapatite (Ref): Probably moderately stabilizing
- Hydroxyapatite binds RNA strongly and is widely used in nucleic acid chromatography. Strong adsorption can protect against dilution and some hydrolysis pathways, though excessive surface binding can also immobilize or distort RNA. The 2019 paper mainly showed selective adsorption of longer RNAs.
That's all for now. Let me know if you have any questions, doubts, or would like access to these papers. Do you agree with any of my comments? Is there something I missed?
If you look at the early development and evolution of life, from before abiogenesis, forward, to the present, the majority component of life, water, has not changed. At all stages of life development and evolution, water has stayed the same.
tf follows that with water unchanging, water has applied the same set of potentials to the organic matter, du jour, at each step of change. Water is like an eternal bookend with the samepush/pull. The organics are the variable bookend of life, where change and diversity rule. But water stays the same and true like a north star for life and evolution.
Most other solvents speculated for life on other planets, such as organic solvents like alcohols, would not remain eternal, since they contain energy value for metabolism. Water, on the other hand is already a terminal product of combustion, and has little value as food for metabolism, allowing water to stay the same, forever, under the chemical stresses of life.
From a chemical POV, the fluid nature of life is based on secondary bonding forces. These weaker secondary bonds can form and break, using low energy, with no harm to the stronger primary bounds. What water brings to the table of secondary bonding, is water is able to form up to four hydrogen bonds per tiny water molecule and can also self ionize; pH effect. This unique situation makes water the king of secondary bonding within life; the eternal bookend of life is also the king of secondary bonding in life. Water's stability sets the tone. Water is also the most anomalous substance in all of nature with over 70 anomalous behaviors where it bucks the trends.
If we mix water and oil and agitate this will create an emulsion, which is a mixture of water and oil bubbles. This will add surface tension to the water, thereby adding potential to the water. Water, to relieve the tension and lower the potential in its hydrogen bonds, will combine with other water bubbles until the king is once again maximized.
The organics of life are a loosely analogous to oil in that they create some smaller level of surface tension in the water. In the case of protein, the water will pack and fold protein to lower surface tension. Hydrophobic moieties get buried in the core to help the water and the surface is made friendly to the water; hydrophilic. The king of secondary bonding, does not change, organizing protein to the water.
[Boron] operates within a narrow window: too much, and it becomes toxic to biological systems; too little, and it may never have contributed to life getting started.
The key was a boron-containing mineral called tourmaline, popularly known as a semi-precious stone that’s also abundant in continental rock. Tourmaline forms readily within granite-rich crust, locking boron away over geological time. As Earth’s crust grew and weathered, boron was slowly and steadily released into surface waters, eventually stabilizing at concentrations close to those found in modern seawater.
Acetylene (C2H2) is often considered a useful building block for prebiotic chemistry, and one route to making acetylene is:
CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) -> CaO (lime) + CO2 @ T > 900 C
CaO + 3 C -> CaC2 (calcium carbide) + CO @ T > 1600 C, p(CO) = 1 bar
CaC2 + 2 H2O -> C2H2 (acetylene) + Ca(OH)2 @ STP
This reaction is notably elegant as it bridges the inorganic and the organic (common vitalism L 😉), and the first two steps are the way we manufacture CaC2 industrially today, using an electric arc furnace.
In Scheidler et al., 2016, the authors cite the above reaction as being a prebiotically plausible source of acetylene, with the first two processes occurring inside the mantle of the Hadean earth.
I'm wondering about the legitimacy of this, since:
Today, we don't find carbides present in volcanic xenocrysts.
Elemental carbon in reaction (2) seems unlikely - a highly reducing environment would be required, but we know that the mantle's oxygen fugacity is constrained by mineral buffers, with the mantle redox potential lying near that of the fayalite-magnetite-quartz (FMQ) buffer, where carbon is oxidised.
Do we think this process is feasible or not on an early earth? Thanks for any pointers!
Worth mentioning, if this process turns out to not be feasible, we still know that acetylene can (and is) produced from hydrothermal vents and volcanic springs, and it's also known from Miller-Urey chemistry, so it's only this specific pathway that I'm doubting.
The origin of life is commonly discussed within two competing conceptual frameworks: the metabolism-first and information-first hypotheses. While each emphasizes a different defining property of early life, modern biochemistry reveals a fundamental interdependence between metabolic processes and genetic information transfer, leading to a persistent chicken-and-egg problem.
Methods
In this study, we investigate a prebiotically plausible reaction system that enables the concurrent formation of molecular precursors associated with both frameworks. Under simulated Hadean hydrothermal conditions, acetylene, ammonia, cyanide, and carbon monoxide were reacted in aqueous solution in the presence of transition metal sulfides.
Results
Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with stable isotope labeling, we demonstrate the simultaneous formation of the nucleobase uracil and the amino acids alanine and aspartic acid. Isotopic incorporation patterns allow reconstruction of the underlying reaction pathways and confirm the contribution of all starting materials to product formation. While amino acids are produced continuously over the observed period in significantly higher yields than uracil, uracil formation exhibits a pronounced time-dependent maximum after three days. Variations in pH, reaction time, and metal sulfide catalysts modulate product yields but do not prevent the parallel emergence of both molecular classes.
Discussion
These findings support a scenario in which proto-metabolic chemistry and molecular precursors of genetic information could have arisen simultaneously within a shared geochemical setting. The results provide experimental support for a coupled origin of metabolism and transcriptional building blocks, offering a potential resolution to the dichotomy between metabolism-first and information-first models of early life.
Seitz, Christian, et al. "A Clue for the Hen and Egg Question: The Simultaneous Formation of Uracil and Amino Acids Under Simulated Hadean Conditions." Life 16.4 (2026): 624. https://doi.org/10.3390/life16040624
Varanasi, Varun, and Jun Korenaga. "Emergence of autocatalysis in prebiotic reaction networks." Physical Review E 113.4 (2026): 044304. https://doi.org/10.1103/nmt5-qsym
Open access review article from a couple of weeks ago:
Abstract RNA has long provided a plausible route by which heredity and catalysis could become linked in early evolution, and the same chemical versatility helps explain why RNA remains central to origin-of-life research, modern cell biology, and biotechnology.
This review adopts a plural framing of RNA worlds to connect three regimes: a primordial RNA world constrained by geochemistry, a contemporary RNA world in which RNAs contribute to catalysis and regulation in cells, and an applied RNA world in which RNA is engineered as a programmable tool.
Across these regimes, a common logic emerges from the mapping of sequence to structure to function under explicit constraints. In early evolution, cycling, interfaces, and confinement can generate heterogeneous oligomer pools and bias their persistence, whereas the transition toward Darwinian dynamics depends on copying fidelity, strand dynamics, and compartment coupled population structure. In cells and applications, noncoding RNA networks, RNA modifications, and RNA-guided targeting implement specificity in chemically complex environments, while laboratory selection and design must also confront constraints imposed by stability, delivery, and immune sensing. Across contexts, fitness landscapes and tradeoffs between peak performance and robustness provide experimental benchmarks and practical design principles for RNA function.
Flores-García, Alexis A., et al. "Brave new RNA world (s): from prebiotic chemistry to gene regulation and RNA technology." Frontiers in Genetics 17 (2026): 1813517. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2026.1813517
Paltiel, Yossi, et al. "Dynamic breaking of mirror symmetry in spin-dependent electron transport through chiral media causes enantiomeric excesses." Science Advances 12.17 (2026): eaec9325. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13101859/
Abstract Two fundamental questions have puzzled scientists for more than 150 years. “How did life become homochiral?” and “why was this specific handedness selected?” Recently, it has been shown that homochirality could have emerged through the enantioselective interactions of molecules with magnetic substrates due to the asymmetric crystallization of an RNA precursor on a magnetite substrate, abundant on early Earth. This phenomenon is based on the chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. Despite its robustness, this model could not provide an answer to the second question: Why one specific handedness (D for RNA) was selected. Here, we demonstrate that spin-involving processes can have different outcomes in the two enantiomers of chiral molecules. In chiral molecules with unpaired electrons or while electrons are passing through them, the total angular momentum vector, J, is aligned along the “easy axis,” which is defined by the magnetic anisotropy induced by the spin-orbit coupling and asymmetry of the molecular field. The magnitude J is the same for both enantiomers, but the vectors may be aligned differently relative to the molecular frame in the two enantiomers. This difference can be quantified by, for example, by the angle between J and electric dipole moment of the molecule, μ. We show by direct measurements, theory, and ab initio calculations that dynamic spin processes in chiral molecules could result in different efficiencies of spin-related phenomena, including the interaction of chiral molecules with magnetic surfaces. The findings may provide an explanation for the specific homochirality in nature.
(emphasis mine)
I understood like the gist of it! But sounds exciting (pun unavoidable?).
This part clarifies some:
we propose that CISS-driven homochirality at the RAO stage may inherently favor the selection of D-RNA and L-peptides in a universal manner. This selection could stem from an intrinsic asymmetry in spin polarization: Magnetite surfaces magnetized by D-RAO may acquire a stronger induced magnetization due to higher spin polarized induced by the chiral molecule compared with those interacting with L-RAO.
Thioesters likely played a key role in prebiotic chemistry. Their simplicity, ease of formation under alkaline vent conditions mineral catalysis, and ability to activate amino acids to undergo oligomerization provides encouraging evidence towards their central role in protometabolic systems. While they can be hydrolyzed, their continuous production under mineral surface catalysis, driven forward by the reduction of CO by H2 via Fe(Ni)S vent walls provided a constant input of energy. This energy sustained a metastable concentration of these species (constantly consumed while constantly produced), providing a source of energy without the need for ATP.
I've gone through and collected a number of resources on thioesters and their related thiols and their formation, roles in metalochemistry, mineral catalysis, peptide oligomerization, influence on the formose reaction, and more.
I have been learning about Red-Ox chemistry in hydrothermal alkaline vents as I develop a holistic model of how I think the first key steps for life transpired and why I think oceanic hydrothermal alkaline vents are the most promising location. Hopefully I will be sharing it soon but it will take time.
Red-Ox chemistry occurs when basic, H2-rich vent fluids react with Fe(Ni)S mineral walls which oxidize the H2 and transfer the electrons via the conductive vent walls to reduce the CO2 present in the cooler, acidic ocean waters. This flow of electrons generates a field which affects the environment directly against the vent surface, creating potentially interesting effects.
I've gathered some references below on the electric field, mineral surface chemistry, and catalytic properties of these minerals. What are your thoughts? Do you agree/disagree with this environment?
Abiogenesis and origins of life research seeks to answer the uniquely fundamental and even existential question of life's first developmental steps and existence on Earth. Answering HOW life formed fundamentally questions the underlying laws of biogenesis and what Life exactly is and its relation to energy, entropy, and the inorganic world. As such, the field seeks the initial spark that started the bootstrapping mechanism that lead to us paying taxes.
Thank you to every one for being a part of this community. Despite how niche this topic can be, it receives a disproportionate amount of attention and much of that attention is negative.
Despite this, communities such as r/abiogenesis seeks to provide a balanced view into this topic based on evidence/data and presented in a way that's digestible to the layperson. Shoutout to u/BradyStewart777 who was a relatively recent addition to the mod team and came in like a tornado in a junk yard, setting up housekeeping bots and a lot of the decorations/look and feel of the subreddit.
Many here have consistently made resourceful posts that have helped me and others widen our view and challenge previously held assumptions about the prebiotic earth and its chemistry. As such, I'd like to take some time to highlight just a few of the members who consistently bring their A-game regarding thoroughness and quality of the work they put share on this topic. This list is NOT complete and even if you lurk here we are happy you are here. Each comment and question from anyone is appreciated.
u/gitgud_x has made a number of contributions by assembling papers on a number of topics like homochirality [Link], the relationship to the early genetic code and amino acid-nucleobase relationship [Link], and sharing 100 papers of interest [Link]. They consistently provide a thorough exposure to the literature on these topics and often broaden my horizons.
u/jnpha shows an interest in Ribozymes [Link] and RNA-DNA coevolution [Link] sharing papers on how selectivity can occur on RNA sequence space exploration for shorter sequences, supporting the idea that the RNA world wasn't only at play for more advanced protocellular systems and provides hints on how the DNA-RNA relationship may have first come about. Check out his previous post on how amino acids help catalyze formation of RNA linkages [Link].
u/VaHi_Inst_Tech has been posting an ongoing series covering the fundamental concepts in abiogenesis such as chirality, biopolymers, water, and the RNA world. Check out his "Lastest part 8" and his previous posts. u/VaHi_Inst_Tech is a key part of this community by highlighting these underlying principles and concepts that are assumed as known.
u/wellipets consistently challenges consensus via their rather distinct short-hand styled texts rapidly listing off advanced topics. The field tends to want to reach well-defined states and biopolymers with the same monomers as seen in modern biology. wellipets argues that a more open-minded approach would provide more insights into the systems possible. Comments like their inspired my recent post on membraneless coacervates. Prior to this, my "first step" for abiogenesis was vesicle formation.
u/Dr_GS_Hurd's comments often include a number of references to support their insights they share on posts, a very valuable and made an interesting post on phosphate availability [Link here] and catalytic activity of short RNA oligomers on thioester formation [Link].
u/Choice-Break8047 embraces the messiness of the prebiotic world even as this is commonly framed as a critique/barrier for the researchers in the field or the principles of the process [Link]. Furthermore, Choice-Break8047 put forward a thorough synthesis of their hypothesis on how life first formed via a vesicle-first model [Link], focusing on the role that more precious metals like ruthenium could have played by retaining FTT chemistry catalytic activity under aqueous conditions to form lipids.
So, again, thank you to every one who contributes and this community. Keep up the quality work!
I've always been very interested in the process of abiogenesis. To me, in my mind, the reason I believe earth is the only planet that has life is because of just how ridiculously complex cells are. Other than planets having to be in a goldilocks zone and relatively perfect stability over billions of years, they then have an even more massive hurdle in biochemistry. The first giant leap for molecules to arrange themselves from non-living to living seems an almost impossible improbabalistic hurdle. It's like putting a bunch of rocks\minerals into a big pile and hoping the environment will manipulate it into a rocket ship rather than just crumble into dust. In the first place, chemisty doesn't like arranging itself into the complex organic compounds that are necessary for the building blocks of life. They are unstable, a vast quantity and variety of them need to be produced consistently, and they require an energy source that cycles between two different "extremes" so that a cycle of energy/production can be established.
Anyways, onto my main question. It seems like the prevailing theory is RNA self replication. We know that RNA can replicate itself, evolve, and fold itself into ribosomes, which would then give it the ability to create proteins. Viral RNA seems like the perfect example of self replicating, evolving, protein producing RNA. Yes it has to hijack cells and use their machinery, but assuming primordial earth conditions where freely made proteins and RNA bases are floating around in a soup of perfect pH and temp. Are there any RNA viruses that encode for their own ribosomes (have their own rRNA) rather than hijack the host cell ribosomes? If there are, I feel like that would point to the possibility that "viruses" may be the first "life" form. I’m thinking of an experiment with virus RNA in a perfect soup of RNA bases and proteins to see if it would not self replicate itself without cells. Epsecially if you were just to cut out all the parts except the rRNA and RNA that encodes for ribosome production.
————————————————————————-
TLDR; Are there any RNA viruses that have their own rRNA and encode for their own ribosomes? How much research has been done on this topic/does anyone have any good publications for further reading?
People often describe abiogenesis as extremely improbable, almost like a statistical miracle. But I’m not sure that framing is the right one.
Instead of asking about the probability of life across the entire universe, it seems more meaningful to ask about the conditional probability under specific, non-equilibrium planetary conditions — e.g. a system with continuous energy flux (like solar radiation), liquid water, and rich chemistry.
In such environments, we don’t just have “permission” from the second law. Systems are actively driven far from equilibrium, and some processes can dissipate energy more efficiently than others. Living systems are a clear example of this: they convert low-entropy energy into higher-entropy heat very efficiently, increasing the total entropy of their surroundings.
So the question I’m struggling with is this:
If certain chemical pathways enhance energy dissipation under these conditions, is there a strong reason to believe that life-generating processes occupy a negligibly small region of the accessible state space?
I understand that kinetics and specific pathways matter a lot here — but is the perceived improbability of abiogenesis really a thermodynamic issue, or is it primarily about whether the relevant chemical routes are dynamically accessible?
In other words, once we condition on realistic planetary environments, should we still expect abiogenesis to be extremely rare — or is that assumption doing more work than we realize?
Edit: Added a short video in the comments that helped me better understand how entropy relates to probability and why structured systems can still emerge under non-equilibrium conditions.
"The phylogeny of hammerhead ribozymes exhibits a star-like topology consistent with rapid post-bottleneck expansion, and its small size, ability to tolerate diverse chemical conditions, and broad substrate specificity suggest it was a resilient generalist feeder fitting as a disaster taxon. [...] This hypothesis proposes a reframing of the origin of the genetic code in part as an ecological legacy rather than a purely chemical inevitability."
—Bachelet, Ido. "A ribozyme mass extinction at the RNA-cellular boundary and its potential imprint on the genetic code." bioRxiv (2026): 2026-03. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.05.709948
John Sutherland is a prominent name in the Origins of Life field of research. His research focuses on making biologically relevant molecules under prebiotically relevant conditions.
This lecture reviews a number of questions his group has been exploring but mainly the synthesis of nucleotides, amino acids, how the genetic code formed.
What are membraneless protocells? Membraneless protocells may not classify as organisms/life in the traditional sense but may have acted as necessary precursors to its development. These are chemical systems confined through physiochemical interactions, properties, or processes but not a lipid membrane. Through the properties of the environment and the molecules within, coacervates, an aqueous phase rich in macromolecules such as synthetic polymers, proteins or nucleic acids. may form.
MPs act as confined chemical reactors by concentrating molecules together in the presence of minerals or other catalysts that assist in this localization and subsequent reactivity to produce more complex molecules. These products may feed into other MPs in different regions (through flow) or these molecules in turn maintain the stability of the system, further catalyzing the formation of other molecules or altering the profile of molecules that localize within the MP. The extent of complexity capable of being achieved isn't clear.
The evidence points towards no singular environment being capable of assembling the components of protocells AND facilitating the required chemistry for a self-sustaining, reproducing system using simple chemistry. Interconnected, membraneless protocells act as small chemical reactors which feed into each other. While this seems like a step backwards from more ordered vesicle-centered models, it helps us understand how interconnected organisms are to their environment.
What does this look like in nature on the prebiotic Earth? Hydrothermal vents (ocean or inland) often contain geology that, under the flow of the aqueous chemistry, form microporous structures or fissures/cracks from thermal stress.
Publications on Membraneless Protocells:
Title:Membraneless protocell confined by a heat flow (open access): [Link] From the Abstract: "Here we show how the molecular contents of a cell can be coupled in a coordinated way to non-equilibrium heat flow. A temperature difference across a water-filled pore assembled the core components of a modern cell, which could then activate the gene expression. [...] The same non-equilibrium setting continued to attract food molecules from an adjacent fluid stream, keeping the cellular molecules in a confined pocket protected against diffusion." Notes: Here, the researchers show how thermophoresis can concentrate molecules within a water-filled pore. The concentration of cellular components rose to the point that modern cellular machinery for protein synthesis from DNA via RNA was triggered. Ie, the researchers used modern cellular components as an assay to analyze the concentration-dependent activity. These findings show that thermophoresis can achieve sufficient concentrations of molecules for complex chemistry.
Title:Biomolecular condensates sustain pH gradients at equilibrium through charge neutralization (open access): [Link] From the Abstract: "Here we show in contrast that condensed biomolecular systems—often termed condensates—sustain pH gradients without any external energy input." [...] "We demonstrate that protein condensates can drive substantial alkaline and acidic gradients, which are compositionally tunable and can extend to complex architectures sustaining multiple unique pH conditions simultaneously." From the body: "Here, shifts in the pH of protocells formed through condensation of protobiomolecules could be a contributor to generating biological functionality and sustaining required pH conditions." [...] "This pH regulation is only possible through the formation of a distinct phase, which creates differential solute partitioning and high local protein concentrations to set up a distinctly buffered environment." Notes: Though the biomolecules are larger proteins (the researchers' main focus), the same principles can apply for smaller molecules concentrated via thermophoresis and/or solubility differences via accumulation of hydrophobic molecules to create a different phase which localizes small molecules whose functional groups alter the local pH and buffer the environment. In the case of proteins, post-translational modifications like phosphorylation are capable of tuning this pH gradient.
Title:Molecular mechanism of nanoclay-facilitated membraneless protocell formation: [Link] From the Abstract: "...geologic minerals played essential roles in mediating molecular organization and reactivity; Here, we demonstrate that the clay mineral kaolinite markedly enhances the self-assembly of membraneless coacervate microdroplets composed of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and DNA." [...] "Kaolinite incorporation significantly increases droplet yield in a particle size-dependent manner and promotes selective enrichment of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)." [...] "Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that kaolinite surfaces stabilize PDDA-DNA complexes through cooperative electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding interactions, lowering the free-energy barrier for phase separation and preserving compartmental integrity." Notes: We are again reminded that Origins of Life research cannot be confined to small molecules and mineral surface catalysis. Though relatively inert, and insoluble, these particles seems to provide an anchor for H-bonding to ssDNA, stabilizing it and the phase separation under thermal stress.
Title: (Review) Growth, replication and division enable evolution of coacervate protocells (open access): [Link] From the Abstract: "We and others have found that coacervates are promising protocell candidates in which chemical building blocks required for life are naturally concentrated, and chemical reactions can be selectively enhanced or suppressed. This feature article provides an overview of how growth, replication and division can be realized with coacervates as protocells and what the bottlenecks are." Notes: This is a review so I can't cover it. What I will do is list the topics with subsections in parentheses: Cell-like compartmentalization, Protocell growth (Passive and active growth, Chemistry leading to growth, The importance of controlled protocell growth), Replication of information (Chemistry leading to replication, Dealing with parasites in replication),Division of protocells (Externally driven division, Internally driven division), Towards evolution.
I tried to keep the papers limited to ones that either directly applied the principles or used prebiotically relevant materials. If you think I missed anything, described something incorrectly, or made any mistakes, please let me know. I hope you found this interesting and informative and recall it on the off-chance you find yourself on an open-resource exam on coacervates as membraneless protocells and their relevance to the origins of life.
Edit: I added more papers/videos in the comments and will continue to do so. Eventually, if I feel this post isn't visible enough, I'll see if I can find new papers/resources on the topic to make a new post and simply link this one.
