Abstract

A challenging question in evolutionary theory is the origin of cell division and plausible molecular mechanisms involved. Here, we made the surprising observation that complexes formed by short alpha-helical peptides and oleic acid can create multiple membrane-enclosed spaces from a single lipid vesicle. The findings suggest that such complexes may contain the molecular information necessary to initiate and sustain this process. Based on these observations, we propose a new molecular model to understand protocell division.

中文翻译：

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肽-油酸酯复合物产生新的膜结合区室。

摘要

进化论中一个具有挑战性的问题是细胞分裂的起源和可能涉及的分子机制。在这里，我们做出了令人惊讶的观察，即由短的α-螺旋肽和油酸形成的复合物可以从单个脂质囊泡中形成多个膜封闭的空间。研究结果表明，此类复合物可能包含启动和维持该过程所需的分子信息。基于这些观察，我们提出了一种新的分子模型来理解原细胞分裂。