A group of applied physicists, including Jiandi Wan, an associate research scholar in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department at the University, has demonstrated that it is possible to form semipermeable vesicles from inorganic clay.
The researchers showed that clay vesicles can be a container for complex organic molecules. The discovery opens the possibility that primitive cells may have been formed inside these microcompartments.
The scientists explained that they have provided a complete physical mechanism for the creation of semipermeable clay vesicles. These vesicles may have allowed chemical building blocks to enter the cell and prevent larger structures from leaving, favoring and protecting molecules that can self-organize during the formation of primordial life. The pores in the vesicles could have served as entry points and catalytic sites.
Future research will explore the physical interactions between the clay particles, and between the liquids and the clay. The group also hopes to discover whether clay vesicles are found in the natural environment today.
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