Contemporary phospholipid based cell membranes are formidable barriers to the uptake of polar and charged molecules ranging from metal ions to complex nutrients. Modern cells therefore require sophisticated protein channels and pumps to mediate the exchange of molecules with their environment. The strong barrier function of membranes has made it difficult to understand the origin of cellular life and has been thought to preclude a heterotrophic lifestyle for primitive cells. Although nucleotides can cross DMPC membranes through defects formed at the gel to liquid transition temperature 1, 2 , phospholipid membranes lack the dynamic properties required for membrane growth. Fatty acids and their corresponding alcohols and glycerol monoesters are attractive candidates for the components of protocell membranes because they are simple amphiphiles that form bilayer membrane vesicles 3-5 that retain encapsulated oligonucleotides 3,6 and are capable of growth and division 7-9 . Here we show that such membranes allow the passage of charged molecules such as nucleotides, so that activated nucleotides added to the outside of a model protocell (Fig. 1) spontaneously cross the membrane and take part in efficient template copying in the protocell interior. The permeability properties of prebiotically plausible membranes suggest that primitive protocells could have acquired complex nutrients from their environment in the absence of any macromolecular transport machinery, i.e. could have been obligate heterotrophs.Previous observations of slow permeation of UMP across fatty acid based membranes 6 stimulated us to explore the structural factors that control the permeability of these membranes. We examined membrane compositions with varied surface charge density, fluidity, and stability of regions of high local curvature. We began by studying the permeability of ribose, because this sugar is a key building block of the nucleic acid RNA, and because sugar permeability is conveniently measured with a real-time fluorescence readout of vesicle volume following solute addition 10, 11 . We used pure myristoleic acid (C14:1 fatty acid, myristoleate in its ionized form) as a reference composition, because this compound generates robust vesicles that are more permeable to solutes than the more common longer chain oleic acid. Both myristoleyl alcohol (MA-OH) and the glycerol monoester of myristoleic acid (monomyristolein, GMM) stabilize myristoleate vesicles to the disruptive effects of divalent cations 3,6 . Addition of these amphiphiles should decrease the surface charge density of myristoleate vesicles, while myristoleyl phosphate (MP) should increase the surface charge

The discovery of ribozymes strengthened the RNA world hypothesis, which assumes that these precursors of modern life both stored information and acted as catalysts. For the first time among extensive studies on ribozymes, we have investigated the influence of hydrostatic pressure on the hairpin ribozyme catalytic activity. High pressures are of interest when studying life under extreme conditions and may help to understand the behavior of macromolecules at the origins of life. Kinetic studies of the hairpin ribozyme self-cleavage were performed under high hydrostatic pressure. The activation volume of the reaction (34 ± 5 ml/mol) calculated from these experiments is of the same order of magnitude as those of common protein enzymes, and reflects an important compaction of the RNA molecule during catalysis, associated to a water release. Kinetic studies were also carried out under osmotic pressure and confirmed this interpretation and the involvement of water movements (78 ± 4 water molecules per RNA molecule). Taken together, these results are consistent with structural studies indicating that loops A and B of the ribozyme come into close contact during the formation of the transition state. While validating baro-biochemistry as an efficient tool for investigating dynamics at work during RNA catalysis, these results provide a complementary view of ribozyme catalytic mechanisms.

Cooperative interactions between RNA and vesicle membranes on the prebiotic earth may have led to the emergence of primitive cells. The membrane surface offers a potential platform for the catalysis of reactions involving RNA, but this scenario relies upon the existence of a simple mechanism by which RNA could become associated with protocell membranes. Here, we show that electrostatic interactions provided by short, basic, amphipathic peptides can be harnessed to drive RNA binding to both zwitterionic phospholipid and anionic fatty acid membranes. We show that the association of cationic molecules with phospholipid vesicles can enhance the local positive charge on a membrane and attract RNA polynucleotides. This phenomenon can be reproduced with amphipathic peptides as short as three amino acids. Finally, we show that peptides can cross bilayer membranes to localize encapsulated RNA. This mechanism of polynucleotide confinement could have been important for primitive cellular evolution.