Periodic Vesicle Formation in Tectonic Fault Zones—an Ideal Scenario for Molecular Evolution

Abstract

Tectonic fault systems in the continental crust offer huge networks of interconnected channels and cavities. Filled mainly with water and carbon dioxide (CO 2), containing a wide variety of hydrothermal chemistry and numerous catalytic surfaces, they may offer ideal reaction conditions for prebiotic chemistry. In these systems, an accumulation zone for organic compounds will develop at a depth of approximately 1 km where CO 2 turns sub-critical and dissolved components precipitate. At this point, periodic pressure changes caused for example by tidal influences or geyser activity may generate a cyclic process involving repeated phase transitions of carbon dioxide. In the presence of amphiphilic compounds, this will necessarily lead to the transient formation of coated water droplets in the gas phase and corresponding vesicular structures in the aqueous environment. During this process, the concentration of organic components inside the droplets and vesicles would be drastically increased, allowing for favorable reaction conditions and, in case of the vesicles generated, large trans-membrane concentration gradients. Altogether, the process of periodic formation and destruction of vesicles could offer a perfect environment for molecular evolution in small compartments and for the generation of protocells. The basic process of vesicle formation is reproduced experimentally with a lipid in a water/CO 2 system.