Mineral-Lipid Interactions in the Origins of Life

Protocells, the first life-like entities, likely contained three molecular components: a membrane, an information-carrying molecule, and catalytic molecules. Minerals have a wide range of properties that might have contributed to the synthesis and self-assembly of these molecular components. Minerals could have mediated the formation and concentration of prebiotic organic monomers, catalyzed their polymerization into biomolecules, and catalyzed protometabolic pathways, leading to protocell self-assembly. This review considers the following major aspects of protocell membrane-mineral interactions: (i) the effect of dissolved cations on the stability of mixed fatty acid and phospholipid vesicles; (ii) the rate of lipid self-assembly to vesicles; and (iii) the role of photocatalytic minerals in harvesting light energy to drive electron transfer reactions across membranes in the development of protometabolism.