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Pearling and helical nanostructures of model protocell membranes

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Abstract

The diversity of protocell membrane structures is crucial for the regulation of cell activities and indispensable to the origin of life. Prior to the evolution of complex cellular machinery, spontaneous protocell membrane evolution results from the intrinsic physicochemical properties of simple molecules under specific environmental conditions. Here, we report the evolution of the morphology of cell-sized model protocell membranes from giant vesicles to pearling and helical nanostructures, resembling morphologies of eukaryocytes, nostoc, and spirilla. This evolution occurs in a single binary aqueous system composed of an achiral single-chain amphiphile and a biogenic polyamine (spermidine or spermine) upon evaporating water, feeding amphiphiles, or increasing pH in response to various primitive fluctuating conditions. In contrast, nonbiogenic polyamines (triamine, triethylenetetramine, and hexamethyltriethylenetetramine) with slight differences in the number of methylene groups or protonated amine groups do not induce such a kind of evolution. The evolution of the shape transformation strongly relies on the balance between electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding, attributed to the odd/even effect of polyamines in the assembly. Strikingly, both pearling and helical structures emerge from multilamellar vesicles undergoing different processes, where the helix shows stronger permeability and encapsulation capability due to its multicompartmentalized structure. Thus, subtle adjustment of weak intramolecular interactions not only yields significant changes in the morphological evolution of protocell membranes but also brings new insights into the natural inevitability of biogenic small molecules.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21972149 and 21988102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid, Interface and Chemical Thermodynamics, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS), CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Zhidi Chen, Yaxun Fan, Yao Chen & Yilin Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zhidi Chen & Yilin Wang

  3. ISIS, STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0QX, UK

    Yao Chen, Jeffrey Penfold & Peixun Li

  4. College of Material Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Rongliang Wu

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  1. Zhidi Chen
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Correspondence to Yaxun Fan, Rongliang Wu or Yilin Wang.

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Chen, Z., Fan, Y., Chen, Y. et al. Pearling and helical nanostructures of model protocell membranes. Nano Res. 15, 659–668 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3541-6

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