Berlin 2024 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 24: Synthetic life-like systems and Origins of Life

BP 24.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 15:00–15:30, H 1028

Steps towards the de-novo synthesis of life — •Sijbren Otto — University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands

How the immense complexity of living organisms has arisen is one of the most intriguing questions in contemporary science. We have started to explore experimentally how organization and function can emerge from complex molecular networks in aqueous solution. We focus on networks of molecules that can interconvert, to give mixtures that can change their composition in response to external or internal stimuli. Molecular recognition between molecules in such mixtures leads to their mutual stabilization, which drives the synthesis of more of the privileged structures, amounting to self-replication. We have witnessed spontaneous differentiation (a process akin to speciation as it occurs in biology) in a system made from a mixture of two building blocks. When such systems are operated under far-from-equilibrium flow conditions, adaptation of the replicators to a changing environment can occur. Replicators that are able to catalyse reactions other than their own formation have been obtained, representing a first step towards metabolism. Rudimentary Darwinian evolution of purely synthetic molecules has also been achieved and the prospect of synthesizing life de-novo is becoming increasingly realistic.

Keywords: synthetic life; synthetic cell; origin of life; self-replication; systems chemistry