Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31405964›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2019

Prebiotic amino acids bind to and stabilize prebiotic fatty acid membranes.

Caitlin E Cornell, Roy A Black, Mengjun Xue, Helen E Litz, Andrew Ramsay, Moshe Gordon, Alexander Mileant, Zachary R Cohen, James A Williams, Kelly K Lee and 2 more

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed
10.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

50 citing papers in PubMed, 108 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. The challenge of distinguishing living from non-living entities.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Review
  13. Peptides En Route from Prebiotic to Biotic Catalysis.Accounts of chemical research · 2024
    Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Caitlin E CornellDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.ORCID 0000-0001-7675-1415
Roy A BlackDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; blackr5@uw.edu slkeller@chem.washington.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-3914-5747
Mengjun XueDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Helen E LitzDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Andrew RamsayDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Moshe GordonDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Alexander MileantDepartment of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Zachary R CohenDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
James A WilliamsDepartment of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Kelly K LeeDepartment of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Gary P DrobnyDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Sarah L KellerDepartment of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195; blackr5@uw.edu slkeller@chem.washington.edu.ORCID 0000-0001-5919-0185
University of Washington · US

Funding

Pharmacological Sciences SupplementT32GM007750 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI ATKINS, WILLIAM M · 1985 to 2023
$12.6M
TRAINING IN MOLECULAR BIOPHYSICST32GM008268 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI KOLLMAN, JUSTIN M, ZHENG, NING · 1988 to 2023
$8.6M
Structural and dynamic traits underlying phenotypic variation in HIV-1 EnvR01AI140868 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI Kelly Keisen Lee · 2019 to 2026
$5.3M
Waters ACQUITY UPLC M-Class with NanoLockSpray ionization sourceR01GM099989 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI LEE, KELLY KEISEN · 2012 to 2020
$3.5M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM099989NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM007750NIGMS NIH HHS T32 GM008268
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The membranes of the first protocells on the early Earth were likely self-assembled from fatty acids. A major challenge in understanding how protocells could have arisen and withstood changes in their environment is that fatty acid membranes are unstable in solutions containing high concentrations of salt (such as would have been prevalent in early oceans) or divalent cations (which would have been required for RNA catalysis). To test whether the inclusion of amino acids addresses this problem, we coupled direct techniques of cryoelectron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy with techniques of NMR spectroscopy, centrifuge filtration assays, and turbidity measurements. We find that a set of unmodified, prebiotic amino acids binds to prebiotic fatty acid membranes and that a subset stabilizes membranes in the presence of salt and Mg

Indexed as

Membranes, ArtificialAmino AcidsCryoelectron MicroscopyFatty AcidsAmino AcidsFatty AcidsMembranes, Artificialamino acidmembraneorigin of lifeprebioticprotocell

Identifiers

PMID31405964
PMCPMC6717294
OpenAlexW2968458049

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.