Prosdocimi Francisco, Farias Savio Torres de
Laboratório de Biologia Teórica e de Sistemas, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Laboratório de Genética Evolutiva Paulo Leminski, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil; Network of Researchers on the Chemical Evolution of Life (NoRCEL), Leeds, LS7 3RB, UK.
Biosystems. 2025 Jun;252:105480. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2025.105480. Epub 2025 May 3.
Understanding the emergence of biological compartmentalization in the context of the primordial soup is essential for unraveling the origin of life on Earth. This study revisits the classical coacervate theory, examining its historical development, supporting evidence, and major criticisms. Building upon Alexandr Oparin's foundational ideas, we propose an updated perspective in which the first biological compartments emerged through the formation of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates-complexes of intrinsically disordered peptides and RNAs-via liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). Drawing on contemporary insights into how LLPS mediates intracellular organization, we argue that such membraneless RNP-based aggregates could have facilitated biochemical reactions in the aqueous environments of early Earth. By reinterpreting Oparin's coacervates through the lens of modern molecular biology, this study offers a renewed framework for understanding the origin of biological compartmentalization within the RNP-world hypothesis.
在原始汤的背景下理解生物区室化的出现对于揭示地球上生命的起源至关重要。本研究重新审视了经典的凝聚理论，考察了其历史发展、支持证据和主要批评意见。基于亚历山大·奥巴林的基础思想，我们提出了一种更新的观点，即第一个生物区室是通过核糖核蛋白（RNP）凝聚物——内在无序肽和RNA的复合物——通过液-液相分离（LLPS）形成的。借鉴当代对LLPS如何介导细胞内组织的见解，我们认为这种基于无膜RNP的聚集体可能促进了早期地球水环境中的生化反应。通过现代分子生物学的视角重新解释奥巴林的凝聚物，本研究为理解RNP世界假说内生物区室化的起源提供了一个新的框架。
