Membranous Protocell Superstructures
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- Kjemisk institutt [1370]
Abstract
How primitive cells emerged and developed on the early Earth remain an unsolved question. In contrast to the hypotheses that the first living cells evolved from a single ancestor, their development as colonies would provide numerous advantages, such as mechanical stability, enhancement of chemical reactions, and sharing of prebiotic molecules. In this PhD thesis, the formation and development of colony-like primitive cell structures and populations was investigated using three simple ingredients: water, fat molecules and solid surfaces. Transformation of fat agglomerates into large populations of structured primitive cells that are able to communicate and migrate, was observed under a light microscope. The role of solid surfaces which were abundant on the early Earth in form of rocks and minerals, was shown to be fundamental for these processes. These findings make us rethink the current theories on how life originated and show that solid surfaces might have played an important role in the emergence of primitive cells on the early Earth.List of papers
Paper I. S. Jõemetsa, K. Spustova, K. Kustanovich, A. Ainla, S. Schindler, S. Eigler, T. Lobovkina, S. Lara-Avila, A. Jesorka, I. Gözen. Molecular Lipid Films on Microengineering Materials. Langmuir 2019, 35, 32, 10286 – 10298. DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01120. The article is not available in DUO due to publisher restrictions. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b01120 |
Paper II. K. Spustova, E. S. Köksal, A. Ainla, I. Gözen. Subcompartmentalization and Pseudo-Division of Model Protocells. Small 2020, 17, 2005320. DOI: 10.1002/smll.202005320. The article is included in the thesis. Also available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202005320 |
Paper III. K. Spustova, C. Katke, E. Pedrueza Villalmanzo, R. Ryskulov, C. N. Kaplan, I. Gözen. Colony-like Protocell Superstructures. Submitted manuscript. To be published. The paper is not available in DUO awaiting publishing. |
Paper IV. I. J. Schanke, L. Xue, K. Spustova, I. Gözen. Transport among Protocells via Tunneling Nanotubes. Submitted manuscript. To be published. The paper is not available in DUO awaiting publishing. |