Abstract
Origin of life research takes various forms but in general tries to understand how organic organization can bootstrap from inorganic structures or constraints, or how more sophisticated protocellular structures can bootstrap from more primitive forms. The demonstration of these transitions can be difficult to implement in the real world. Here we focus on how inorganic structures, formed in the presence of simple organics, can lead to novel hybrid inorganic-organic 3D architectures that support simple membrane formation. We analyzed both the mineral and hybrid structures, and vesicle formation in the presence of these geochemical surfaces using different physio-chemical techniques. This study shows a potential route that the first cellular structures could have taken through their interaction with hybrid organic-inorganic abiotic structures in their environment. Such model systems can also be insightful for artificial life studies regarding the importance of self-assembly promoted between two different systems: inorganic and organic.