Bilayer lipid membranes (BLM) of cells of all organisms consist of immense number of kinds of lipids including phospholipids which are chiral and belong to L-type in eubacteria and eukaryotes and to D-type in archaea. Chiral purity of all kinds of lipids is provided by enzymatic synthesis of respective enantiomers but the question about its origin is still open. Lipids are relatively small molecules that can be formed abiogenicaly much more easily and faster than molecules of RNA and proteins. Besides, they can form spontaneously various supramolecular structures such as micelles, liposomes, and bilayers that were necessary for formation of prototypes of the cell. In this work some theoretical considerations are given that provide indirect evidence that lipid membranes could have predetermined the chiral purity of biosphere as a whole. An important role at this could have played specific features of phase transitions in BLM and physical properties of membranes containing lipid enantiomers of one or different types.
lipids, chirality, phase transitions, the lipid world, cell predecessors
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