Origins and Evolution of Life

This study shows that protocell colonies grow under spatial confinement through mechanical shearing, while isolated protocells rupture due to surface-volume imbalance.

This study shows that co-evolution between host and parasitic RNA replicators can lead to diversity loss and frequent extinctions under specific dilution conditions.

This study develops a framework to model coevolution of molecular replicators and parasites with transient compartmentalization, showing compositional memory influences early molecular system dynamics.

This study compares two phosphate-activation chemistries' effects on nucleotide modifications, showing that primordial nucleotides are more susceptible to modification, which may explain the selection of the canonical genetic alphabet.

This study shows that ammonium and alkylammonium counterions enhance RNA polymerization from 2,3-cyclic nucleotides under dry, geologically plausible conditions.

The paper compares cell-like entities from mammalian tissues with Precambrian microfossils, finding morphological and biochemical similarities suggesting biologically active systems in both.

The paper analyzes nucleic acid sequences from the Zag meteorite, showing they lack biological coding features but exhibit constrained complexity, suggesting non-biological or unknown origins.

This study shows hydration-dehydration cycles drive compartment dynamics in minimal protocells without chemical reactions or metabolism.

This paper proposes that a ribozyme mass extinction 3.9-3.8 billion years ago shaped the genetic code through ecological and evolutionary mechanisms.

This study shows that restricting amino acid diversity can replace native enzymatic activity with an alternative phosphoryl-transfer reaction in a reconstructed ancestral nucleoside diphosphate kinase.

This paper presents a theoretical model of error correction in self-replicating systems that does not require enzymes or external energy, demonstrating kinetic discrimination and error ratios similar to biological processes.

The paper describes a ribozyme that can synthesize both itself and its complementary strand, suggesting polymerase ribozymes may be more common in RNA sequence space.

The paper quantifies biomarker ambiguity using metabolic network analysis and introduces three metrics to evaluate biomarker specificity across 9,140 metabolites.

The paper develops a reduced motif space model to capture the dynamics of RNA pools, showing it can capture important aspects of sequence space dynamics.

The paper resurrects ancient nitrogenase enzymes and shows their nitrogen isotope signatures are similar to modern ones, suggesting evolutionary invariance and supporting the use of N-isotope biosignatures for detecting life.

This study shows that fatty acid vesicle populations can respond to artificial selection for turbidity through cooperative dynamics, not just carryover effects.

This paper demonstrates genetically encoded RNA droplets that can dissolve, segregate, and regrow through ribozyme catalysis, establishing a minimal cycle for synthetic life.

The paper constructs a model of RNA-based food chain interactions using ancestral RNA strands found in Dead Sea sinkholes, showing competitive dynamics and environmental sensitivity.

This paper describes a catalytic RNA-based aminoacylation reaction that forms a more stable 5'-aminoacyl RNA linkage, potentially enabling prebiotic RNA-directed peptide synthesis.

ChemOrigins is a community-curated database that organizes experimentally supported prebiotic reactions into a knowledge graph for research and education.

This study examines protein-coenzyme interactions in the Protein Data Bank to assess the plausibility of early peptide-cofactor collaborations before the Central Dogma.

This paper develops a mathematical model showing that growth-supporting functions evolved before informational processes in protocells, establishing a fundamental constraint on the origin of genetic heredity.

This study examines how 2'-deoxyribo-purine substitutions affect RNA duplex stability and nonenzymatic template-directed primer extension.

This study shows that mineral surfaces can facilitate the formation of protocell-like assemblies by co-adsorbing and organizing biomolecules, supporting metabolic activity and compartment formation.

This study investigates RNA condensates formed at acidic pH, showing they compartmentalize biomolecules, enhance reaction rates, and act as microreactors with catalytic activity, supporting the RNA world hypothesis.

This study shows random 25-mer peptides with a prebiotically plausible amino acid alphabet can self-assemble into thermostable beta-rich nanostructures.

This paper investigates the reduction of NAD and NMN on mineral surfaces under abiotic conditions, showing NAD's specificity and the role of the AMP tail in preventing overreduction.

This paper analyzes the Virtual Circular Genome (VCG) model for prebiotic replication, showing that increasing long oligomer length and reducing their concentration improves replication fidelity.

This study shows DNA genomes had a stoichiometric selection advantage over RNA genomes in early life, due to efficiency in macromolecular composition, not chemical stability.

This study examines interactions between different protocell populations and shows how coexistence leads to emergent properties and evolutionary trajectories in early membrane systems.