title: Spontaneous overcrowding in liposomes as possible origin of metabolism.
abstract: We emphasize here that, in considering the initial prebiotic reactions, it is fundamental to take into consideration the critical threshold concentration, in particular when talking about self-replication and initial metabolism. It is also shown that the in situ formation of vesicles in a solution containing macromolecular solutes, permits to obtain filled vesicles which are overcrowded of those solutes and therefore viable for complex biochemical reactions.
authors.affiliation: University of Rome3, Viale Guglielmo Marconi 446, Rome, 00146, Italy, luisi@mat.ethz.ch.
authors.forename: Pier Luigi
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Luisi
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stano
authors.forename: Tereza
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: de Souza
mesh_terms: D058045:Artificial Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D005293:Ferritins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry*; D000069497:Origin of Life; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D016008:Statistical Distributions
chemical_list: D008081:Liposomes; D012313:RNA; D005293:Ferritins