PSR · Photometabolic Self-Replication
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-03-01 → 2021-02-28
- EU contribution
- €165,599
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Photometabolic Self-Replication
The transition from non-life to life is one of the most fascinating but challenging issues in contemporary science. It is clear that all the current biodiversity is the outcome of Darwinian evolution from a primitive cellular species, the so-called last universal common ancestor (LUCA). A NASA panel even defined life as a “self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution”. The findings of modern biology have fully validated those principles, but show no illumination of the onset of Darwinian evolution. The design of replicator systems that can evolve will advance our understanding of the chemical roots of Darwinian evolution and its origin, and pave the way for de novo synthesis of life. Direct kinetic or thermodynamic selection can be imposed on some synthetic replicators, where the selection targets are physicochemical properties rather than “encoded” functions like in biological evolution. To make the selection coherent with the Darwin framework, functions should be coupled to mutations to enable selection of functional advantage. An organizational logic of an ensemble of higher-order processes (e.g. through a compartment) is required to keep the replicator together with its corresponding functional components for retaining the metabolites for the benefit of the replicator that produced them. Systems chemistry dealing with intricate combinations of molecules (e.g. via reaction networks, self-assembly, and self-organization) at once will help address many of the challenges in evolutionary chemistry, leading to the emergence of evolutionary systems chemistry. The objectives of the project are to functionalize replicators by integrating metabolism and build up a self-maintaining chemical replicator systems capable of Darwin evolution and adaption.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This research project aims to address one of the Grand Challenges in contemporary science: the de-novo synthesis of life. More specifically we aim to achieve, for the first time, (i) development of replicators that feature a primitive photometabolism, and (ii) Darwinian evolution of such fully synthetic molecules. These ambitious aims are firmly grounded on the unique expertise of the host lab (self-replicating molecules) combined with the strong expertise of the ER (self-assembly and photochemistry). This combination will enable the adaptive integration of a photoactive co-factor (e.g. a porphyrin) with replicator fibers which will activate photocatalytic production of singlet oxygen. This singlet oxygen promotes the oxidation of thiol building blocks into “food” (i.e. small disulfide macrocycles) which the replicator can utilize to make copies of itself. In the final phase of the project we will operate the photometabolic self-replicating system under far-from-equilibrium conditions in an open flow system in which replication competes with physical removal (“death”). This regime should allow for Darwinian evolution, provided that replicator mutation is facilitated by providing different building blocks. In order to survive, replicators need to replicate faster than they are being destroyed. Therefore, selection should favour the replicator with the highest catalytic efficiency. Overall, the designed systems will exhibit all aspects of Darwinian evolution: replication, mutation and selection. While evolution in biology requires long periods of time, herein we aim, for the first time, to realize evolution in a fully synthetic system within a short timeframe, and obtain photometabolic replicators with activities that have been improved through Darwinian evolution.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN · GroningenCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union