Prebiotic oligomerization on or inside lipid vesicles in hydrothermal environments

Oligomerization of amino acids proceeded on or inside lipid vesicles as a model of prebiotic cells in a simulated hydrothermal environment. When the suspension of lipid vesicles taking up monomeric glycine underwent a sudden temperature drop by traversing from a hot (180 degreesC) to a cold (0 degreesC) region repeatedly while circulating through a closed reaction circuit, oligopeptides up to heptaglycine were formed even in the absence of condensing agents.