Liquid crystal ordering of RNA: a route for the origin of life?
Event details
Date | 07.02.2017 |
Hour | 11:00 |
Speaker | Prof. Tommaso Bellini, University of Milan |
Location | |
Category | Conferences - Seminars |
BIOLOGICAL & STATISTICAL PHYSICS SEMINAR
We recently discovered that concentrated solutions of short oligonucleotides (down to 4 base long) and even solutions of single bases spontaneously develop liquid crystal ordering. In such supramolecular assemblies, duplex-forming oligomers and paired bases are held in continuous mutual contact to form chemically discontinuous but physically continuous double helices. We found that this spontaneous order can serve as a mechanism for molecular selection and as a template to guide abiotic ligation of the oligomers in long chains.
Specifically, we studied the influence of liquid crystal ordering on the efficiency of non-enzymatic ligation reaction induced by water-soluble carbodiimide EDC as condensing agent. We find that the liquid crystal ordering markedly enhances the ligation efficacy, thus suggesting such spontaneous ordering may have been the key feature in the emerging of nucleic acids from the primordial molecular noise.
Was the RNA World prepared by an even more ancient “Liquid Crystal World”?
We recently discovered that concentrated solutions of short oligonucleotides (down to 4 base long) and even solutions of single bases spontaneously develop liquid crystal ordering. In such supramolecular assemblies, duplex-forming oligomers and paired bases are held in continuous mutual contact to form chemically discontinuous but physically continuous double helices. We found that this spontaneous order can serve as a mechanism for molecular selection and as a template to guide abiotic ligation of the oligomers in long chains.
Specifically, we studied the influence of liquid crystal ordering on the efficiency of non-enzymatic ligation reaction induced by water-soluble carbodiimide EDC as condensing agent. We find that the liquid crystal ordering markedly enhances the ligation efficacy, thus suggesting such spontaneous ordering may have been the key feature in the emerging of nucleic acids from the primordial molecular noise.
Was the RNA World prepared by an even more ancient “Liquid Crystal World”?
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Prof. Paolo De Los Rios, Laboratory of Statistical Biophysics, Institute of Physic and Institute of Bioengineering
Contact
- Céline Burkhard, Laboratory of Statistical Biophysics (LBS)