Investigating Early Molecular Evolution

At the Analytica USA conference held in Columbus, Ohio, this past September, Christian Mayer, a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, delivered a talk titled “Spontaneous Structural Development of a Peptide-vesicle System Towards Possible Protocells” (1).

In the first part of our interview, Mayer summarized his talk at Analytica (2). In the second part of our conversation, Mayer discusses the benefits of using pressure cycling to study prebiotic chemistry.

LCGC International: Your team used pressure cycling to simulate conditions at a depth of 1 km in the Earth’s crust. What advantages does this approach offer compared to other experimental models for studying prebiotic chemistry?

Christian Mayer: The integration of peptides into membranes is something that we even find today in our present biology. Many proteins have the ability to introduce residues parts of these proteins into the membrane. I believe that the integration into a membrane is a very elementary property of a peptide chain of an early protein, so to speak. So, the key here is that this integration is the first and the initial selection step. If you form random peptides, many of these random peptides will not be able to integrate into the membrane. However, if a peptide chain is capable of integrating forms, then it will integrate, and this integration will lead to a protected state of this peptide, since it now is sitting in such a membrane and protected against hydrolysis. It's protected against the reaction with water which wants to take apart this peptide chain. Therefore, integration means protection, and since it means protection, this will also lead to an accumulation of this peptide over time. So, I think it's the very initial step how these peptides are being selected.

Then, of course, the vesicles themselves will be selected for stability, which in the following time and following periods of time, will lead to a selection of the peptides again. Then, it will select these peptides for their ability to stabilize the membranes. This will be the second step. But the initial selection of peptides regarding their ability to integrate into the membranes. I think this is the most important step, and this is the more the first selection criteria that the system will follow.

References

1. Analytica USA, Speakers: Christian Mayer. Analytica USA. Available at: https://aus2025.mapyourshow.com/8_0/sessions/session-details.cfm?scheduleid=68 (accessed 2025-10-02).
2. Wetzel, W. Can Prebiotic Chemistry Help Us Understand the Formation of Life? LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/can-prebiotic-chemistry-help-us-understand-the-formation-of-life- (accessed 2025-10-02).