Key requirements for the first cells on Earth include the ability to compartmentalize and evolve. Compartmentalization spatially localizes biomolecules from a dilute pool and an evolving cell, which, as it grows and divides, permits mixing and propagation of information to daughter cells. Complex coacervate microdroplets are excellent candidates as primordial cells with the ability to partition and concentrate molecules into their core and support primitive and complex biochemical reactions. However, the evolution of coacervate protocells by fusion, growth and fission has not yet been demonstrated. In this work, a primordial environment initiated the evolution of coacervate-based protocells. Gas bubbles inside heated rock pores perturb the coacervate protocell distribution and drive the growth, fusion, division and selection of coacervate microdroplets. Our findings provide a compelling scenario for the evolution of membrane-free coacervate microdroplets on the early Earth, induced by common gas bubbles within heated rock pores.

Key requirements for the first cells on Earth include the ability to compartmentalize and evolve. Compartmentalization spatially localizes biomolecules from a dilute pool and an evolving cell which grows and divides permits mixing and propagation of information to daughter cells. Complex coacervate microdroplets are excellent candidates as primordial cells with the ability to partition and concentrate molecules into their core and support primitive and complex biochemical reactions. However, the evolution of coacervate protocells by fusion, growth and fission has not yet been demonstrated. In this work, a primordial environment initiated the evolution of coacervate-based protocells. Gas bubbles inside heated rock pores perturb the coacervate protocell distribution and drive the growth, fusion, division and selection of coacervate microdroplets. This setting provides a primordial non-equilibrium environment. Our findings describe how common gas bubbles within heated rock pores induce the early evolution processes of coacervate-based protocells, providing a compelling scenario for the evolution of membrane-free coacervate microdroplets on the early Earth.

Life is based on informational polymers such as DNA or RNA. For their polymerization, high concentrations of complex monomer building blocks are required. Therefore, the dilution by diffusion poses a...