A new study outlines a simple mechanism by which RNA could become associated with the membranes of protocells, a cooperative interaction that could have led to the formation of primitive cells. Researchers believe that membrane surfaces on the early Earth provided a platform for reactions involving RNA. However, in order for these reactions to occur, RNA would first have had to become associated with the membranes themselves.

The study, “Electrostatic Localization of RNA to Protocell Membranes by Cationic Hydrophobic Peptides,” was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie. The work was supported by the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology element of the NASA Astrobiology Program.