ArticleScience advances2020
Can polarity-inverted membranes self-assemble on Titan?
Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Experimental insights into the azotosome hypothesis in Titan's lake fluids.Science advances · 2026Article
- On the possibility of carbon-free heteropolymers on Venus: a computational astrobiology study.QRB discovery · 2025Article
- The Composition and Chemistry of Titan's Atmosphere.ACS earth & space chemistry · 2024Review
- Photoisomerization of (Cyanomethylene)cyclopropane (CThe journal of physical chemistry. A · 2024Article
- Can Polarity-Inverted Surfactants Self-Assemble in Nonpolar Solvents?The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2020Article
- Defining Lyfe in the Universe: From Three Privileged Functions to Four Pillars.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The environmental and chemical limits of life are two of the most central questions in astrobiology. Our understanding of life's boundaries has implications on the efficacy of biosignature identification in exoplanet atmospheres and in the solar system. The lipid bilayer membrane is one of the central prerequisites for life as we know it. Previous studies based on molecular dynamics simulations have suggested that polarity-inverted membranes, azotosomes, made up of small nitrogen-containing molecules, are kinetically persistent and may function on cryogenic liquid hydrocarbon worlds, such as Saturn's moon Titan. We here take the next step and evaluate the thermodynamic viability of azotosome formation. Quantum mechanical calculations predict that azotosomes are not viable candidates for self-assembly akin to lipid bilayers in liquid water. We argue that cell membranes may be unnecessary for hypothetical astrobiology under stringent anhydrous and low-temperature conditions akin to those of Titan.
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Registered trials
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.