Membraneless Polyester Microdroplets as a Window into the First (Proto)cells on Earth

Abstract

While it is often believed that the origins of life required participation of early biomolecules, non-biomolecules could have also played a part. In particular, recent research has highlighted the various ways by which polyesters, could have played a major role during the origins of life. Polyesters could have been synthesized readily on early Earth through simple dehydration reactions at mild temperatures involving abundant non-biological alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) monomers. This dehydration synthesis process results in a polyester gel, which upon further rehydration, can assemble into membraneless droplets proposed to be protocell models. These protocells can provide functions to a primitive chemical system such as analyte segregation, which could have further led to chemical evolution from prebiotic chemistry to nascent biochemistry. Here, we highlight the assembly, structure, and function of membraneless polyester microdroplets as a window to the the first proto(cells) on Earth.