Topology of protocells: do nanoholes catalyse fission ?

TL;DR

This paper proposes a low-energy mechanism involving nanoholes in protocell membranes that facilitates lipid translocation and can lead to protocell fission through temperature-induced differential growth.

Contribution

It introduces a novel topological model of protocell membranes with nanoholes that reduces energy barriers for lipid movement and promotes fission.

Findings

Nanoholes stabilize via electrostatic and elastic forces.

Temperature differences induce differential growth leading to fission.

Proposes a new topological mechanism for protocell division.

Abstract

We propose a mechanism with a low activation energy for lipid translocation, based on a change of topology of the membrane of a protocell. The inner and outer layers are connected and form toroidal nanoholes stabilised by repulsive electrostatic forces for small radius and attractive elastic forces for large radius. Thanks to these holes, the energy barrier of translocation is drastically reduced and a difference of temperature between the inside and the outside of the protocell can induce a differential growth of these layers, until the vesicle splits in two.