ArticleJournal of molecular evolution2011
Early evolution of membrane lipids: how did the lipid divide occur?
Article in Journal of molecular evolution, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed.
- Why Do Cells Contain Thousands of Lipid Species? Toward an Integrated Framework for Lipid Diversity in Biological Membranes.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Chemical Routes to Primitive Membranes: Prebiotic Lipid Formation at the Origin of Life.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- A comprehensive database for high-throughput identification of archaeal lipids using high-resolution mass spectrometry.Nature communications · 2025Article
- The role of ester- versus ether-linked phospholipids in the ability of biological membranes to accept protons and support proton diffusion.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- Article
- Archaeal Lipids: Extraction, Separation, and Identification via Natural Product Chemistry Perspective.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Discovering Hidden Archaeal and Bacterial Lipid Producers in a Euxinic Marine System.Environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- A tuneable minimal cell membrane reveals that two lipid species suffice for life.Nature communications · 2024Article
- A tuneable minimal cell membrane reveals that two lipid species suffice for life.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- The astrochemical evolutionary traits of phospholipid membrane homochirality.Nature reviews. Chemistry · 2024Review
- Isoprenoid CARTs:Biomacromolecules · 2024Article
- Spiral packing and chiral selectivity in model membranes probed by phase-resolved sum-frequency generation microscopy.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Expanded Archaeal Genomes Shed New Light on the Evolution of Isoprenoid Biosynthesis.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Exploring robustness of hybrid membranes under high hydrostatic pressure and temperature.Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- RETRACTED ARTICLE: Generation of long-chain fatty acids by hydrogen-driven bicarbonate reduction in ancient alkaline hydrothermal vents.Communications earth & environment · 2024Article
- ATP synthase evolution on a cross-braced dated tree of life.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Cholesterol, Eukaryotic Lipid Domains, and an Evolutionary Perspective of Transmembrane Signaling.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2023Review
- Lipidomic chemotaxonomy aligned with phylogeny of Halobacteria.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Probing archaeal cell biology: exploring the use of dyes in the imaging ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- The catalytic and structural basis of archaeal glycerophospholipid biosynthesis.Extremophiles : life under extreme conditions · 2022Review
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Abstract
The ubiquitous distribution, homology over three domains, and key role in the membrane formation of the enzymes of the CDP-alcohol phosphatidyltransferase family, as well as phylogenetic analyses of lipid synthesizing enzymes suggest that the membranes of Wächtershäuser's hypothetical pre-cells (universal common ancestor) [Mol Microbiol 47:13-22 (2003)] comprised a lipid bilayer with four types of core lipids [G-1-P-isoprenoid ether (Ai), G-3-P-fatty acyl ester (Bf), G-1-P-fatty acyl ester (Af) and G-3-P-isoprenoid ether (Bi)]. Here, a complementary hypothesis is presented to explain the difference between archaeal and bacterial lipids (lipid divide). The main driving force of lipid segregation is assumed to be glycerophosphate (GP) enantiomers, as Wächtershäuser proposed, but in the present study the hydrocarbon chains bound to each backbone are also hypothesized to affect lipid segregation. It is assumed that segregation was stimulated by different hydrocarbon chains bound to different GP backbones (Ai:Bf or Af:Bi). Because Ai and Bi are diastereomers and Af and Bf are enantiomers, Ai:Bf and Af:Bi are not equivalent. G-1-P-isoprenoid ether is provisionally assumed to segregate more easily from Bf than Bi does from Af. G-1-P-isoprenoid ether and Bf could more easily achieve the more stable homochiral membranes that are the ancestors of Archaea and Bacteria. This can explain why the extant archaeal and bacterial membrane lipids are mainly composed by Ai and Bf lipids, respectively. Because polar head groups were localized in the cytoplasmic compartment of pre-cells, they were equally carried over to Archaea and Bacteria during differentiation. Consequently, the both descendants shared the main head groups of membrane phospholipids.
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