Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Regulation

BP 20.12: Talk

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 12:45–13:00, H 1058

One Dimensional Evolution of DNA-Fragment Replication — •Emanuel Worst¹, Eva Wollrab¹, Philipp Zimmer², Karsten Kruse², and Albrecht Ott¹ — ¹Universität des Saarlandes, Biologische Experimentalphysik, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken — ²Universität des Saarlandes, Theoretische Biologische Physik, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken

We study the dynamics of an enzyme-based, self-replicating system consisting of DNA fragments and Taq DNA ligase. The aim is to achieve a dynamic equilibrium of self-reproducing DNA strands that evolve towards longer strands in a stepwise manner, through the occurrence of rare events. In the present realization, the ligation of DNA molecules A and B by Taq DNA ligase creates a DNA molecule T with a low probability. Hybridization of A and B on the template T brings the reactive 3`-end (hydroxyl group) of A and 5`-end (phosphate group) of B very close to each other. This increases the ligation probability by the Taq DNA-ligase and leads to strongly increased replication of T. Presently the autocatalytic reproduction of even longer strands is insufficient, it is prevented by strong side reactions. This is a problem, which needs to be addressed in the future.