Dynamic interplay between peptide synthesis and membrane assembly would have been crucial for the emergence of protocells on the prebiotic Earth. However, the effect of membrane-forming amphiphiles on peptide synthesis, under prebiotically plausible conditions, remains relatively unexplored. Here we discern the effect of a phospholipid on peptide synthesis using a non-activated amino acid, under wet–dry cycles. We report two competing processes simultaneously forming peptides and N-acyl amino acids (NAAs) in a single-pot reaction from a common set of reactants. NAA synthesis occurs via an ester–amide exchange, which is the first demonstration of this phenomenon in a lipid–amino acid system. Furthermore, NAAs self-assemble into vesicles at acidic pH, signifying their ability to form protocellular membranes under acidic geothermal conditions. Our work highlights the importance of exploring the co-evolutionary interactions between membrane assembly and peptide synthesis, having implications for the emergence of hitherto uncharacterized compounds of unknown prebiotic relevance.

中文翻译：

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干湿循环下脂质-氨基酸混合物中自发出现成膜原两亲物

肽合成和膜组装之间的动态相互作用对于原始细胞在生命起源之前的地球上的出现至关重要。然而，在生命起源前的合理条件下，成膜两亲物对肽合成的影响仍然相对未经探索。在这里，我们在干湿循环下辨别磷脂对使用非活化氨基酸的肽合成的影响。我们报告了在单锅反应中由一组常见反应物同时形成肽和N-酰基氨基酸 (NAA) 的两个竞争过程。NAA 合成通过酯-酰胺交换发生，这是在脂质-氨基酸系统中首次证明这种现象。此外，NAA 在酸性 pH 值下自组装成囊泡，这表明它们能够在酸性地热条件下形成原细胞膜。我们的工作强调了探索膜组装和肽合成之间共同进化相互作用的重要性，这对迄今为止未知的益生元相关性的未知化合物的出现具有影响。