Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 37: Systems Biology, Evolution and Neural Networks I

BP 37.4: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2020, 16:00–16:15, ZEU 250

Ligation Chain Reactions in Non-Equilibrium Convection Compartments with Microscale pH Cycles — •Annalena Salditt and Dieter Braun — Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität

Early replication mechanisms for the origin of life rely on periodic strand separation to start new rounds of replication necessary to stabilize and accumulate information of long nucleic acids. Especially for catalytically active RNAs, high temperatures required for strand separation promote their hydrolysis, leading to a loss of information. Therefore, a geophysical non-equilibrium environment on early Earth would have required means to separate hybridized strands after replication and to localize long, potentially functional molecules against diffusion while protecting them from hydrolysis. We perform ligation extension experiments in moderate temperature gradients across micrometer thick, water-filled chambers with a water-CO2 interface to induce a miniaturized water cycle while maintaining thermophoretic trapping conditions. In addition to more realistic early atmospheric conditions of the Earth, the CO2-water interface causes periodic pH changes, that induce the hybridization of double strands. We expect this to be a promising autonomous setting for ligation chain reactions starting from a random or semi-random oligomer pool.