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Science 24 October 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5645, pp. 580 - 581
DOI: 10.1126/science.1091765
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Perspectives

GEOCHEMISTRY:
The Importance of Being Alkaline

Michael John Russell

The earliest forms of "protolife" on Earth must have been able to reproduce and replicate; it is likely that they were also cellular. How might such systems have formed? In his Perspective, Russell highlights the report by Hanczyc et al., who show that clay particles can catalyze the formation of lipid vesicles. These particles also adsorb RNA. If the vesicles are forced to divide, RNA is distributed among the daughter vesicles. Similar conditions to those used in the experiments may have existed at mounds created by alkaline, hydrothermal seepages on the ancient ocean floor. However, instead of lipids, polypeptides formed from amino acids may have formed the first organic membranes.

The author is at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 0QF, UK. E-mail: m.russell{at}suerc.gla.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
MICROBIAL FORMATION OF A HALLOYSITE-LIKE MINERAL.
K. Tazaki (2005)
Clays and Clay Minerals 53, 224-233
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tubular precipitation and redox gradients on a bubbling template.
D. A. Stone and R. E. Goldstein (2004)
PNAS 101, 11537-11541
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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