Tony Z. Jia

Compartmentalization was likely essential for primitive chemical systems during the emergence of life, both for preventing leakage of important components, i.e., genetic materials, and for enhancing chemical reactions. Although life as we know it uses lipid bilayer-based compartments, the diversity of prebiotic chemistry may have enabled primitive living systems to start from other types of boundary systems. Here, we demonstrate membraneless compartmentalization based on prebiotically available

Compartmentalization in a prebiotic setting is an important aspect of early cell formation and is crucial for the development of an artificial protocell system that effectively couples genotype and phenotype. Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) and complex coacervates are phase separation phenomena that lead to the selective partitioning of biomolecules and have recently been proposed as membrane-free protocell models. We show in this study through fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP)

A variety of organic chemicals were likely available on prebiotic Earth. These derived from diverse processes including atmospheric and geochemical synthesis and extraterrestrial input, and were delivered to environments including oceans, lakes, and subaerial hot springs. Prebiotic chemistry generates both molecules used by modern organisms, such as proteinaceous amino acids, as well as many molecule types not used in biochemistry. As prebiotic chemical diversity was likely high, and the core of

Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) phenomena are ubiquitous in biological systems, as various cellular LLPS structures control important biological processes. Due to their ease of in vitro assembly into membraneless compartments and their presence within modern cells, LLPS systems have been postulated to be one potential form that the first cells on Earth took on. Recently, liquid crystal (LC)-coacervate droplets assembled from aqueous solutions of short double-stranded DNA (s-dsDNA) and poly

Nucleic acid segregation and compartmentalization were likely essential functions that primitive compartment systems resolved during evolution. Recently, polyester microdroplets generated from dehydration synthesis of various α-hydroxy acids (αHA) were suggested as potential primitive compartments. Some of these droplets can differentially segregate and compartmentalize organic dyes, proteins, and nucleic acids. However, the previously studied polyester microdroplets included limited αHA chemica

The origin of life on Earth required myriads of chemical and physical processes. These include the formation of the planet and its geological structures, the formation of the first primitive chemicals, reaction, and assembly of these primitive chemicals to form more complex or functional products and assemblies, and finally the formation of the first cells (or protocells) on early Earth, which eventually evolved into modern cells. Each of these processes presumably occurred within specific prebi

The Panspermia hypothesis posits that either life's building blocks (molecular Panspermia) or life itself (organism-based Panspermia) may have been interplanetarily transferred to facilitate the origins of life (OoL) on a given planet, complementing several current OoL frameworks. Although many spaceflight experiments were performed in the past to test for potential terrestrial organisms as Panspermia seeds, it is uncertain whether such organisms will likely "seed" a new planet even if they are

α-Hydroxy acids are prebiotic monomers that undergo dehydration synthesis to form polyester gels, which assemble into membraneless microdroplets upon aqueous rehydration. These microdroplets are proposed as protocells that can segregate and compartmentalize primitive molecules/reactions. Different primitive aqueous environments with a variety of salts could have hosted chemistries that formed polyester microdroplets. These salts could be essential cofactors of compartmentalized prebiotic reactio

Nucleic acids (NAs) in modern biology accomplish a variety of tasks, and the emergence of primitive nucleic acids is broadly recognized as a crucial step for the emergence of life. While modern NAs have been optimized by evolution to accomplish various biological functions, such as catalysis or transmission of genetic information, primitive NAs could have emerged and been selected based on more rudimental chemical-physical properties, such as their propensity to self-assemble into supramolecular

Biophysics research tends to focus on utilizing multidisciplinary technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations to study biological phenomena through the lens of chemistry and physics. Although most current biophysics work is focused on studying extant biology, the fact remains that modern biological systems at some point were descended from a universal common ancestor. At the core of modern biology is the important question of how the earliest life on (or off) Earth emerged. Recent technolo

The pursuit of understanding the origins of life (OoL) on and off Earth and the search for extraterrestrial life (ET) are central aspects of astrobiology. Despite the considerable efforts in both areas, more novel and multifaceted approaches are needed to address these profound questions with greater detail and with certainty. The complexity of the chemical milieu within ancient geological environments presents a diverse landscape where biomolecules and non-biomolecules interact. This interactio

One goal of origins of life research is to understand how primitive informational and catalytic biopolymers emerged and evolved. Recently, a number of sequencing techniques have been applied to analysis of replicating and evolving primitive biopolymer systems, providing a sequence-specific and high-resolution view of primitive chemical processes. Here, we review application of sequencing techniques to analysis of synthetic and primitive nucleic acids and polypeptides. This includes next-generati

Abstract Liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) is a process that often occurs due to binding between oppositely charged biopolymers, and has gained increasing attention recently due to their ubiquity in biological systems and ability to direct essential cellular processes. However, while these discoveries in biology are recent, the field of origins of life has been investigating LLPS for nearly 100 years, ever since the first suggestions by Oparin and Haldane that primitive LLPS could have been