PMID- 34947944
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20211229
IS  - 2075-1729 (Print)
IS  - 2075-1729 (Electronic)
IS  - 2075-1729 (Linking)
VI  - 11
IP  - 12
DP  - 2021 Dec 16
TI  - Influence of Metal Ions on Model Protoamphiphilic Vesicular Systems: Insights 
      from Laboratory and Analogue Studies.
LID - 10.3390/life11121413 [doi]
LID - 1413
AB  - Metal ions strongly affect the self-assembly and stability of membranes composed 
      of prebiotically relevant amphiphiles (protoamphiphiles). Therefore, evaluating 
      the behavior of such amphiphiles in the presence of ions is a crucial step 
      towards assessing their potential as model protocell compartments. We have 
      recently reported vesicle formation by N-acyl amino acids (NAAs), an interesting 
      class of protoamphiphiles containing an amino acid linked to a fatty acid via an 
      amide linkage. Herein, we explore the effect of ions on the self-assembly and 
      stability of model N-oleoyl glycine (NOG)-based membranes. Microscopic analysis 
      showed that the blended membranes of NOG and Glycerol 1-monooleate (GMO) were 
      more stable than pure NOG vesicles, both in the presence of monovalent and 
      divalent cations, with the overall vesicle stability being 100-fold higher in the 
      presence of a monovalent cation. Furthermore, both pure NOG and NOG + GMO mixed 
      systems were able to self-assemble into vesicles in natural water samples 
      containing multiple ions that were collected from active hot spring sites. Our 
      study reveals that several aspects of the metal ion stability of NAA-based 
      membranes are comparable to those of fatty acid-based systems, while also 
      confirming the robustness of compositionally heterogeneous membranes towards high 
      metal ion concentrations. Pertinently, the vesicle formation by NAA-based systems 
      in terrestrial hot spring samples indicates the conduciveness of these low ionic 
      strength freshwater systems for facilitating prebiotic membrane-assembly 
      processes. This further highlights their potential to serve as a plausible niche 
      for the emergence of cellular life on the early Earth.
FAU - Joshi, Manesh Prakash
AU  - Joshi MP
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-2718-4033
AD  - Department of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Dr. 
      Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, Maharashtra, India.
FAU - Steller, Luke
AU  - Steller L
AD  - Australian Centre for Astrobiology, and School of Biological, Earth and 
      Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, 
      Australia.
FAU - Van Kranendonk, Martin J
AU  - Van Kranendonk MJ
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0611-2703
AD  - Australian Centre for Astrobiology, and School of Biological, Earth and 
      Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW 2052, 
      Australia.
FAU - Rajamani, Sudha
AU  - Rajamani S
AD  - Department of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Dr. 
      Homi Bhabha Road, Pune 411008, Maharashtra, India.
LA  - eng
GR  - BT/PR19201/BRB/10/1532/2016/Department of Biotechnology/
GR  - DP180103204/Australian Research Council/
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20211216
PL  - Switzerland
TA  - Life (Basel)
JT  - Life (Basel, Switzerland)
JID - 101580444
PMC - PMC8708898
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - N-acyl amino acid
OT  - analogue conditions
OT  - hot springs
OT  - metal ions
OT  - origins of life
OT  - prebiotic membranes
OT  - protoamphiphiles
OT  - protocell
COIS- The authors declare no conflict of interest.
EDAT- 2021/12/25 06:00
MHDA- 2021/12/25 06:01
PMCR- 2021/12/16
CRDT- 2021/12/24 01:16
PHST- 2021/11/24 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2021/12/10 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2021/12/13 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2021/12/24 01:16 [entrez]
PHST- 2021/12/25 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2021/12/25 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2021/12/16 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - life11121413 [pii]
AID - life-11-01413 [pii]
AID - 10.3390/life11121413 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Life (Basel). 2021 Dec 16;11(12):1413. doi: 10.3390/life11121413.