Title: Emergent properties arising from biopolymer-membrane interactions

Speaker: Dr. Aaron Engelhart (Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota)

Abstract:
Prior to the emergence of coded protein synthesis, primitive catalysts - whether RNA or protein - were likely less sophisticated than those found in extant life. Recently, we have characterized several systems that demonstrate that primitive membranes and catalysts could have worked in conjunction with one another to enable a wider range of regulatory and catalytic behaviors than either component could on its own. In one system, we have observed a primitive growth-mediated regulatory behavior arising from high concentrations of short RNAs co-encapsulated with a ribozyme [1]. In another, we have observed that the presence of liposomes can enable a soluble catalyst to perform a transformation that is otherwise impossible in aqueous solution [2]. I will discuss these and other results from our work relating to interactions between functional polymers and liposomes.

[1] Engelhart AE, Adamala KP, and Szostak JW. (2016) Nature Chemistry 8:448-453.
[2] Adamala KP, Engelhart AE, and Szostak JW. (2016) Nature Communications doi:10.1038/ncomms11041.