{
  "abstract": "Fatty-acid vesicles growing by monomer uptake, as demonstrated experimentally for Szostak-type protocells, insert new amphiphiles predominantly into the outer leaflet. Because transbilayer flip-flop is not instantaneous, this generates a growing area mismatch between the two leaflets. We show, using the area-difference-elasticity (ADE) framework for vesicle shape, that this mismatch crosses a threshold beyond which the vesicle relieves it by shedding small, high-curvature nano-vesicles rather than by symmetric division–with no external mechanical forcing required. A leaflet-resolved kinetic model shows that sustained parent growth over many such cycles requires the shed nano-vesicles to be compositionally enriched in the destabilizing (outer-leaflet) material rather than ordinary bilayer: a specific, falsifiable prediction. For illustrative growth and flipflop rates the model predicts nano-vesicles of radius 60–90 nm, above the stability floor of fatty-acid vesicles. This mechanism, and its central prediction, match independent experimental observations on fatty-acid and lysolipid-containing vesicles. In an earlier work [1] we explored periodic environmental mechanical forcing (tidal, geyser and vortex-driven shear) as an alternative trigger for vesicle instability; that mechanism rests on poorly constrained assumptions about Hadean orbital dynamics and produces, in its simplest form, no resonance, only a low-pass response. The present mechanism requires no assumption about the early Earth’s mechanical environment at all.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Peter Mikuláš",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-6827-4976"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fh3adqa623zrm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010013/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "fh3adqa623zrm",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010013/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Origins and Evolution of Life"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220846556",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010013/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-07",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fh3adqa623zrm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010013",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010013/v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "openalex:3103|Origins and Evolution of Life",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Growth-Triggered Nano-vesicle Budding via Leaflet Area Asymmetry in Fatty-Acid Protocells",
  "title_text": "Growth-Triggered Nano-vesicle Budding via Leaflet Area Asymmetry in Fatty-Acid Protocells",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:24Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fh3adqa623zrm",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}