Spontaneous Protein Crowding in Liposomes: A New Vista for the Origin of Cellular Metabolism

Ferritin encapsulation inside lipid vesicles reveals the spontaneous formation of protein‐rich vesicles. The solute distribution inside the vesicles follows a power law. The important conclusion for origins‐of‐life scenarios is that the dynamics of membrane closure allow the accumulation of solutes inside primitive cells, thus providing an explanation for the origins of early functional cells.