Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 21: Poster IIIb

BP 21.33: Poster

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 11:00–14:30, Poster C

Theory of RNA evolution in phase-separated systems — •Gaetano Granatelli, Samuel Santhosh Gomez, and Christoph Weber — Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Materials Engineering: Institute of Physics, University of Augsburg, Germany

Evolution is due to the error-prone replication processes of genetic material, DNA or RNA, performed by replication machinery translated from the same genetic material.

The aim of the project is to develop a theoretical framework that can account for RNA replication with and without a phase-separated droplet, to investigate how phase coexistence could play a role in providing spatially confined micro-environments which allow for the co-evolution with parasitic RNA replicators. We build our model upon a client-scaffold theoretical framework that decouples phase separation of scaffold molecules from the reaction kinetics of dilute clients.

The motivation for such a model comes from theoretical and experimental work on translation-coupled RNA replication systems within cell-like compartments, where the evolution of host and parasitic RNA species is analysed: hosts have the ability to translate a self-encoded RNA replicase, whereas parasites do not (having lost their replicase encoding region due to mutations). These studies suggest that compartmentalization might be necessary for co-evolution of host and parasite replicators, which instead is not observed in bulk conditions.

Keywords: RNA; Phase separation; Origin of Life; Replication; Evolution