Dresden 2017 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Posters - Physics of the Genesis of Life (Focus Session)

BP 20.10: Poster

Dienstag, 21. März 2017, 14:00–16:00, P1A

Spatial fractionation of RNA in an inhomogeneous temperature gradient — •Prasanna Padmanaban, Juan Iglesias Artola, and Moritz Kreysing — MPI of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden

Thermal gradients across small pores are able to accumulate nucleic acids from dilute aqueous solutions, e.g. a pre-biological ocean, pond, or puddle [1]. More recently it was found that an open pore of this kind can even act as length selective filter for nucleic acids that are delivered by a steady hydrodynamic flow through this pore. This results in the deposition of long, rare and potentially functional nucleic acids inside this small porous compartment [2]. It was shown that this selection pressure towards increasing molecular complexity is capable of stabilizing long replicators in the presence of short parasites.

Here, we investigate the accumulation characteristics of spatially varying, rather than homogenous, temperature gradients. We present simulation results that indicate distinct, RNA-length dependent accumulation zones. We interpret this as a spatially varying fitness landscape and present an experimental strategy to map it. Our finding implies the possibility of a continuous evolutionary process over multiple levels of innovation in a single compartment, and without the need for temporal changes of the system.

[1] Baaske et al., PNAS 104(22), 9346*9351 (2007) [2] Kreysing et al., Nat Chem, 7(3), 203*208 (2015)