Figure 4.

Tentative transition of energized electron transfer from mineral grains to membrane assemblages. (a) Peptide-rich micellar patches (pink), together with a rudimentary electron transfer chain, can have assembled at the substratum surface, between the precellular organic matrix (light green) and a larger external photoactive particle (grey), or in close contact with colloidal grains inside. (b) Fully enclosing such colloidal particles in membrane-bounded vesicles could render charge separation more effective. (c) Incorporating organic pigments (green) in the peptide-rich reaction centers could shift the effective bandwidth into the visible part of the sunlight spectrum.