Life started with chemical reactions between prebiotic building blocks. Those include amino acids, sugars and fatty acids that can be made via regular chemical reactions that do not require life. These reactions likely began relatively simple, but grew in complexity over time. Eventually, molecules emerged that were capable of performing the functions associated with life, such as replicating themselves, converting energy (metabolism) and organising themselves into a kind of ‘shell’ (compartmentalisation). 

Most organic compounds that organisms make (biomolecules) can also be synthesised in laboratories, even under circumstances resembling those predating early life. But organising these biomolecules into a self-sustaining system that also remains far from thermodynamic equilibrium remains a major challenge. After all, you have to demonstrate how a simple chemical system can spontaneously transform into something that remains continuously active and self-sustaining, without ‘settling down’ as nature would normally do.

This project utilises precisely such a system – far from equilibrium and self-sustaining – based on peptides, short chains of amino acids linked together. This system has already proven to be capable of replicating itself and catalysing simple chemical reactions. Using this system, the researchers want to emulate life’s base functions like metabolism and compartmentalisation.