Interactions between lipid membranes and mineral surfaces such as silica and clay are commonly discussed in the context of prebiotic chemistry and early protocellular organization. This text argues that their significance extends beyond historical origin-of-life scenarios. Mineral–membrane interactions represent a general physical principle: regulation of membrane state through contact with inert, charged, or semi-rigid interfaces. In the anoxic prebiotic world, such interactions acted as external regulators of membrane stability, permeability, and curvature in the absence of biochemical control. With the rise of oxygen, the same physical forces became potentially destructive, driving the evolution of regulatory, buffering, and repair mechanisms in modern cells. Today, biologically structured interfaces—such as the extracellular matrix, cytoskeleton, and intracellular membrane contacts—serve as internalized analogues of ancient mineral surfaces. This continuity suggests that membrane state transitions are governed by the same underlying physics across prebiotic and biological regimes, providing a unified framework linking origin-of-life research with modern cell biology.
Peter Mikuláš (Sun,) studied this question.