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Cell evolution and the problem of membrane topology

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 8, pages 1018–1024 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Cells somehow evolved from primordial chemistry and their emergence depended on the co-evolution of the cytoplasm, a genetic system and the cell membrane. It is widely believed that the cytoplasm evolved inside a primordial lipid vesicle, but here I argue that the earliest cytoplasm could have co-evolved to high complexity outside a vesicle on the membrane surface. An invagination of the membrane, aided by an early cytoskeletal system, may have formed the first cells — initially within primordial vesicles.

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Figure 1: Biosynthetic pathways for amino acids, phospholipids and central metabolism.
Figure 2: Surface interactions and the membrane problem.
Figure 3: The outside-in model of cellularization.

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Acknowledgements

I thank T. Gibson, M. Knop, S. Trachtenberg, D. Lancet, G. van Meer, L. Mayorga and J. Reich for their comments and discussion, and C. Bleck for preparing the figures.

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  1. Gareth Griffiths is at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany. gareth.griffiths@embl-heidelberg.de,

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Griffiths, G. Cell evolution and the problem of membrane topology. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 8, 1018–1024 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2287

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