AAPPLICATION OFPPLICATION OF

MMOLECULAROLECULAR B BIOLOGY IOLOGY TTECHNIQUESECHNIQUES

IN IN AASTROBIOLOGYSTROBIOLOGY

RICCARDO S. GATTA Ph.D. Molecular Genetics, I.C.G.E.B. New Delhi, Reg’d Pharmacist

JULIAN CHELA-FLORES The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics Strada Costiera 11; 34136 Trieste, Italy and

Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Caracas 1015A, Venezuela

IINTRODUCTIONNTRODUCTION

CLASSIC MOLECULAR BIOLOGY APPROACH TO

RECOGNISE MOLECULAR BIOSIGNATURES,

APPLY THIS IN AN ISOLATED ENVIRONMENT.

&

SELECT TARGET,

SELECT TECHNIQUE,

ADAPT...

HAEKEL (1834-1919)

WOESE(1980’s)

SSEARCH FOREARCH FOR L LIFE IN THE IFE IN THE UUNIVERSENIVERSE

DARWIN (1809-1882)

ANCESTOR

MODERN

??

KNOWN

UNKNOWN ??

ANAXIMANDER (VI BCE)DEMOCRITUS (460-370 BCE)

The Origin

OBSERVATIONS - EVOLUTION

MACROSCOPIC

MICROSCOPIC

MOLECULAR

DIVERGENTCONVERGENT

EVOLUTIONMODELS OF

PARALLEL

LAST

ANCESTOR

UNIVERSAL

COMMON

Yes

EEVOLUTION VOLUTION && NNATURALATURAL S SELECTIONELECTION UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS?

No

continue…

LIFE…?

(…and skip next slide)

IF

Structure

LIFE AS A TARGET

IDENTIFY & QUANTIFY

Complex StructuresChemistryEmergent Chirality

LIFE

Complexity

Energy

Transduction

Polymers

ReplicationSpecific InteractionsDriving ForcesMolecular / Cellular

Metabolism More ComplexityMore DisequilibriumWaste

Yes

EEVOLUTION VOLUTION & N& NATURAL ATURAL SSELECTIONELECTION

UNIVERSAL CONCEPTS?

No

continue…

LIFE…?

(…and skip next slide)

IF

Figure from Labfrontier Corporation

REPLICATION:

DNA ↕

DNA

TRANSLATION:

mRNA↓

Protein

TRANSCRIPTION:

DNA ↓

mRNA

CCENTRALENTRAL D DOGMAOGMA OFOF M MOLECULAOLECULARR B BIOLOGYIOLOGYCrick, 1958

DO NOT

code for :

DNA RNA PROTEINS

“… to apply only to present-day organisms, and not to events in the remote past, such as the origin of life or the origin of the code.”

Crick, 1970

K v

K ir Ca v Na v

Early K channels

Voltage-gated channels

PHANEROZOIC

570 Myo - present

PROTEROZOIC

2.5 Gyo – 570 Myo

ARCHEAN

4.6 – 2.5 Gyo

~800 million

years ago

Ancient Proteins, membrane channels

TIME /

EVOLUTION

Modern Proteins

Example of divergence

from LUCA at

Check-Point IntervalsCheck-Point IntervalsFor:

Homology with known molecules

Na

Ca

K

EEVOLUTIONARY VOLUTIONARY CCRITERIARITERIA

Moczydlowski, 1998

Homology with known molecules

Where can we seek homology?BUT

1:

2:

Homology in:

BLUE 2, Joan Miro’.

1: INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS

COMPOSITION 8, Vassily Kandinsky.

2: BUILD UP (CONSTRUCTION)

DECONSTRUCTIDENTIFY BASIC ELEMENTSEUROPA

FROM: NASA, JPL, UA, UC.

3: THE PARADIGM:

LINKto

PART 2