Figure 1.

Diversity of morphology and composition of self-assembled vesicles. Top: Schematic representation of possible morphologies and shape changes. Vesicles may be multi-, oligo-, or unilamellar. They may also be multivesicular (containing smaller vesicles inside a large vesicle). Under certain conditions and for certain amphiphiles, vesicle shape changes can be induced (e.g., leading to vesicle budding and fission). Vesicles may also be nonspherical (e.g., tubular). The diameter of vesicles may vary between about 30 nm and more than 100 µm. Bottom: Vesicle formation occurs for a large number of chemically diverse amphiphiles, including those naturally occurring in biomembranes as well as completely synthetic amphiphiles. Of particular interest are single-chain amphiphiles (or mixtures of amphiphiles) that are potentially prebiotic.