1 00:00:08,230 --> 00:00:04,390 good morning or afternoon everyone 2 00:00:10,790 --> 00:00:08,240 welcome to the nai director seminar 3 00:00:12,950 --> 00:00:10,800 i am really really pleased to be able to 4 00:00:15,030 --> 00:00:12,960 introduce jack shaw stack today i think 5 00:00:16,550 --> 00:00:15,040 jack shaw stack is probably well known 6 00:00:18,310 --> 00:00:16,560 to everybody and doesn't need much of an 7 00:00:19,429 --> 00:00:18,320 introduction 8 00:00:22,470 --> 00:00:19,439 but 9 00:00:24,390 --> 00:00:22,480 i will say that jack is associated not 10 00:00:26,710 --> 00:00:24,400 only with the harvard medical school 11 00:00:28,630 --> 00:00:26,720 where he's in the department of genetics 12 00:00:29,990 --> 00:00:28,640 but also the massachusetts general 13 00:00:32,709 --> 00:00:30,000 hospital where he's in the department of 14 00:00:35,350 --> 00:00:32,719 molecular biology and he's also a howard 15 00:00:37,670 --> 00:00:35,360 hughes medical institute investigator 16 00:00:41,190 --> 00:00:37,680 jack is very well known for his work on 17 00:00:43,030 --> 00:00:41,200 rna evolution and most recently he has 18 00:00:45,270 --> 00:00:43,040 been doing some very exciting work on 19 00:00:47,270 --> 00:00:45,280 designing an artificial cell 20 00:00:48,950 --> 00:00:47,280 and what jack is going to tell us today 21 00:00:50,470 --> 00:00:48,960 is what we can learn about the origin of 22 00:00:52,790 --> 00:00:50,480 life from efforts to design an 23 00:00:55,510 --> 00:00:52,800 artificial cell and jack i will turn it 24 00:00:56,830 --> 00:00:55,520 directly over to you 25 00:00:59,830 --> 00:00:56,840 okay thank 26 00:01:00,790 --> 00:00:59,840 you and uh thanks for the opportunity to 27 00:01:02,869 --> 00:01:00,800 uh 28 00:01:06,789 --> 00:01:02,879 talk to everybody today 29 00:01:08,870 --> 00:01:06,799 uh so what i'd like to 30 00:01:12,230 --> 00:01:08,880 tell you about is some of the recent 31 00:01:14,710 --> 00:01:12,240 work for my lab that's aimed at 32 00:01:15,990 --> 00:01:14,720 the synthesis of a very 33 00:01:19,670 --> 00:01:16,000 simple 34 00:01:21,429 --> 00:01:19,680 minimal artificial cell 35 00:01:22,230 --> 00:01:21,439 as made out of 36 00:01:24,710 --> 00:01:22,240 just 37 00:01:26,950 --> 00:01:24,720 chemical simple chemicals 38 00:01:28,550 --> 00:01:26,960 so in general what we're 39 00:01:31,590 --> 00:01:28,560 trying to do 40 00:01:32,390 --> 00:01:31,600 is get a better idea of what's required 41 00:01:34,550 --> 00:01:32,400 to 42 00:01:37,990 --> 00:01:34,560 make that move from complicated 43 00:01:40,469 --> 00:01:38,000 chemistry to really simple biology 44 00:01:42,789 --> 00:01:40,479 and so the main thing that that means to 45 00:01:45,109 --> 00:01:42,799 me is that we want to see the 46 00:01:47,990 --> 00:01:45,119 spontaneous emergence of darwinian 47 00:01:50,469 --> 00:01:48,000 evolutionary processes 48 00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:50,479 from mixtures of the right kinds of 49 00:01:55,670 --> 00:01:52,840 chemical building blocks 50 00:01:57,270 --> 00:01:55,680 so more specifically what we're trying 51 00:01:58,469 --> 00:01:57,280 to do is test 52 00:02:01,749 --> 00:01:58,479 uh 53 00:02:03,910 --> 00:02:01,759 particular aspects of a model that we 54 00:02:05,429 --> 00:02:03,920 have in mind for what a very 55 00:02:07,510 --> 00:02:05,439 early primitive 56 00:02:09,270 --> 00:02:07,520 protocol might have looked like 57 00:02:11,830 --> 00:02:09,280 and so 58 00:02:13,750 --> 00:02:11,840 on this uh next slide 59 00:02:17,270 --> 00:02:13,760 we have a schematic 60 00:02:19,030 --> 00:02:17,280 diagram of the kind of 61 00:02:20,470 --> 00:02:19,040 construct that we're trying to put 62 00:02:24,070 --> 00:02:20,480 together 63 00:02:26,390 --> 00:02:24,080 so this is a a diagram of what we think 64 00:02:28,070 --> 00:02:26,400 are the minimal requirements 65 00:02:30,229 --> 00:02:28,080 of a very early cell and it has 66 00:02:32,790 --> 00:02:30,239 basically two 67 00:02:34,150 --> 00:02:32,800 components a bilayer 68 00:02:38,710 --> 00:02:34,160 membrane 69 00:02:40,949 --> 00:02:38,720 and inside it uh some kind of uh 70 00:02:44,150 --> 00:02:40,959 nucleic acid or related molecule that 71 00:02:47,589 --> 00:02:44,160 can carry information in the sequence 72 00:02:51,509 --> 00:02:47,599 of its monomer building blocks 73 00:02:53,430 --> 00:02:51,519 okay so um this conception of an early 74 00:02:56,470 --> 00:02:53,440 cell builds uh 75 00:03:00,150 --> 00:02:56,480 heavily on the ideas of 76 00:03:02,309 --> 00:03:00,160 self-assembly both chemical and physical 77 00:03:04,390 --> 00:03:02,319 so we know that bilayer membranes can 78 00:03:06,309 --> 00:03:04,400 self-assemble 79 00:03:07,670 --> 00:03:06,319 spontaneously from 80 00:03:09,270 --> 00:03:07,680 ancient 81 00:03:11,190 --> 00:03:09,280 small molecules 82 00:03:13,589 --> 00:03:11,200 and we know that 83 00:03:18,710 --> 00:03:13,599 given activated nucleotides and the 84 00:03:23,910 --> 00:03:20,309 we can 85 00:03:25,270 --> 00:03:23,920 spontaneously form uh long rna 86 00:03:25,990 --> 00:03:25,280 polymers 87 00:03:27,990 --> 00:03:26,000 so 88 00:03:29,670 --> 00:03:28,000 in addition to these self-assembly 89 00:03:31,110 --> 00:03:29,680 processes though 90 00:03:33,110 --> 00:03:31,120 what we need 91 00:03:35,670 --> 00:03:33,120 for cellular behavior and for 92 00:03:37,509 --> 00:03:35,680 evolutionary behavior is the ability of 93 00:03:40,630 --> 00:03:37,519 the whole system 94 00:03:42,550 --> 00:03:40,640 to grow and divide to replicate 95 00:03:44,070 --> 00:03:42,560 and so if we think first about the 96 00:03:45,670 --> 00:03:44,080 bilayer 97 00:03:47,830 --> 00:03:45,680 cell membrane 98 00:03:48,949 --> 00:03:47,840 there have to be physical processes that 99 00:03:50,949 --> 00:03:48,959 allow 100 00:03:52,949 --> 00:03:50,959 for additional monomers to become 101 00:03:54,710 --> 00:03:52,959 incorporated into the bilayer so that it 102 00:03:57,350 --> 00:03:54,720 can grow larger 103 00:04:00,229 --> 00:03:57,360 and then also some kind of 104 00:04:02,390 --> 00:04:00,239 process that will mediate division into 105 00:04:04,710 --> 00:04:02,400 smaller daughter cells 106 00:04:07,190 --> 00:04:04,720 and of course the tricky part is that 107 00:04:09,670 --> 00:04:07,200 all of this has to happen without any uh 108 00:04:11,589 --> 00:04:09,680 pre-existing complicated biological 109 00:04:13,429 --> 00:04:11,599 machinery and we know that all modern 110 00:04:16,229 --> 00:04:13,439 cells of course devote 111 00:04:18,150 --> 00:04:16,239 a lot of infrastructure to the growth 112 00:04:19,110 --> 00:04:18,160 and division of their of their cell 113 00:04:21,830 --> 00:04:19,120 membrane 114 00:04:23,030 --> 00:04:21,840 in addition same kinds of considerations 115 00:04:25,189 --> 00:04:23,040 apply 116 00:04:27,030 --> 00:04:25,199 to the genetic material 117 00:04:29,430 --> 00:04:27,040 so in modern biology of course we have a 118 00:04:31,270 --> 00:04:29,440 lot of complicated enzymology uh 119 00:04:34,629 --> 00:04:31,280 dedicated to the 120 00:04:36,150 --> 00:04:34,639 uh replication of our genome 121 00:04:37,830 --> 00:04:36,160 but in this case 122 00:04:39,830 --> 00:04:37,840 we're trying to think of how something 123 00:04:42,150 --> 00:04:39,840 could emerge from a chemical system and 124 00:04:44,390 --> 00:04:42,160 so what we've been focusing on are 125 00:04:47,030 --> 00:04:44,400 purely chemical systems which would 126 00:04:50,870 --> 00:04:47,040 allow a template strand to be copied 127 00:04:54,950 --> 00:04:50,880 into a duplex and the strands come apart 128 00:04:56,629 --> 00:04:54,960 and copy those single strands again so 129 00:05:00,390 --> 00:04:56,639 that in the end you have 130 00:05:02,150 --> 00:05:00,400 um java duplexes that can be distributed 131 00:05:04,469 --> 00:05:02,160 to the daughter cell 132 00:05:06,790 --> 00:05:04,479 and so this cycle can go around and 133 00:05:11,749 --> 00:05:06,800 around indefinitely 134 00:05:15,749 --> 00:05:14,070 sequences will diverge and eventually 135 00:05:17,990 --> 00:05:15,759 some kind of 136 00:05:21,270 --> 00:05:18,000 sequence will arise it does something 137 00:05:23,430 --> 00:05:21,280 helpful to the cell in some way 138 00:05:25,990 --> 00:05:23,440 improve the efficiency of replication 139 00:05:28,230 --> 00:05:26,000 either of the genetic material or the 140 00:05:30,629 --> 00:05:28,240 cell itself or the whole structure 141 00:05:31,830 --> 00:05:30,639 and such molecules should have an 142 00:05:33,510 --> 00:05:31,840 advantage 143 00:05:35,909 --> 00:05:33,520 and gradually come to take over the 144 00:05:38,070 --> 00:05:35,919 population and that kind of 145 00:05:41,430 --> 00:05:38,080 genetic change in population structure 146 00:05:42,950 --> 00:05:41,440 is the essence of darwinian evolution 147 00:05:45,189 --> 00:05:42,960 okay so this is the kind of thing that 148 00:05:47,110 --> 00:05:45,199 we'd like to put together 149 00:05:48,070 --> 00:05:47,120 in a laboratory 150 00:05:49,830 --> 00:05:48,080 and 151 00:05:51,909 --> 00:05:49,840 so that means we have to start thinking 152 00:05:54,150 --> 00:05:51,919 about the kinds of molecules that are 153 00:05:55,430 --> 00:05:54,160 going to go into these structures the 154 00:05:57,670 --> 00:05:55,440 cell membrane 155 00:05:59,909 --> 00:05:57,680 and the genetic material 156 00:06:02,790 --> 00:05:59,919 and also we have to think about 157 00:06:03,909 --> 00:06:02,800 energy sources 158 00:06:07,270 --> 00:06:03,919 and 159 00:06:10,710 --> 00:06:07,280 so just to touch on that of course this 160 00:06:12,550 --> 00:06:10,720 kind of system is inherently a 161 00:06:14,870 --> 00:06:12,560 far from equilibrium system there are a 162 00:06:18,070 --> 00:06:14,880 lot of ways that energy can 163 00:06:19,590 --> 00:06:18,080 go into the system so we'll be supplying 164 00:06:22,790 --> 00:06:19,600 from the environment activated 165 00:06:25,029 --> 00:06:22,800 nucleotides with chemical energy 166 00:06:27,350 --> 00:06:25,039 in the activated nucleotides we have 167 00:06:28,550 --> 00:06:27,360 possibility for mechanical energy to 168 00:06:30,469 --> 00:06:28,560 mediate 169 00:06:32,230 --> 00:06:30,479 cell division 170 00:06:35,110 --> 00:06:32,240 energy is released and the phase 171 00:06:37,110 --> 00:06:35,120 transfer is new molecules integrate into 172 00:06:40,790 --> 00:06:37,120 the bilayer 173 00:06:42,950 --> 00:06:40,800 membrane structure and and so on 174 00:06:44,710 --> 00:06:42,960 so so both 175 00:06:46,870 --> 00:06:44,720 matter in the form of new building 176 00:06:49,350 --> 00:06:46,880 blocks and energy 177 00:06:51,430 --> 00:06:49,360 will be flowing through this system and 178 00:06:54,950 --> 00:06:51,440 mediating the overall growth and 179 00:06:59,189 --> 00:06:57,670 okay so one other aspect of this is this 180 00:07:02,469 --> 00:06:59,199 is such a simple 181 00:07:04,309 --> 00:07:02,479 uh minimal cellular structure 182 00:07:06,070 --> 00:07:04,319 that is 183 00:07:09,589 --> 00:07:06,080 growth and division relies on a 184 00:07:10,870 --> 00:07:09,599 correspondingly complicated environment 185 00:07:14,550 --> 00:07:10,880 and 186 00:07:17,029 --> 00:07:14,560 so in this conception we're thinking of 187 00:07:18,390 --> 00:07:17,039 environmental chemistry is supplying the 188 00:07:21,110 --> 00:07:18,400 various building blocks that are 189 00:07:23,430 --> 00:07:21,120 required for these processes 190 00:07:25,909 --> 00:07:23,440 as well as the various uh 191 00:07:28,150 --> 00:07:25,919 sources of energy 192 00:07:30,390 --> 00:07:28,160 okay so i know there's a very particular 193 00:07:32,790 --> 00:07:30,400 model there are a lot of different ideas 194 00:07:33,990 --> 00:07:32,800 not everyone accepts this 195 00:07:35,430 --> 00:07:34,000 you know there's a lot of people that 196 00:07:36,710 --> 00:07:35,440 think that all the building blocks would 197 00:07:38,950 --> 00:07:36,720 have to arise 198 00:07:40,629 --> 00:07:38,960 internally from localized chemical 199 00:07:42,390 --> 00:07:40,639 reactions 200 00:07:44,790 --> 00:07:42,400 but we're 201 00:07:46,309 --> 00:07:44,800 in our experience not really directly 202 00:07:48,390 --> 00:07:46,319 concerns with the origins of the 203 00:07:50,550 --> 00:07:48,400 building blocks a particular assumption 204 00:07:52,390 --> 00:07:50,560 is they come from external environmental 205 00:07:53,909 --> 00:07:52,400 chemistry but we're really only trying 206 00:07:54,869 --> 00:07:53,919 to test ideas 207 00:07:56,950 --> 00:07:54,879 about 208 00:07:59,589 --> 00:07:56,960 how these molecules interact and 209 00:08:01,430 --> 00:07:59,599 generate larger structures 210 00:08:03,670 --> 00:08:01,440 that 211 00:08:05,110 --> 00:08:03,680 might have the properties of the living 212 00:08:05,990 --> 00:08:05,120 cell 213 00:08:08,309 --> 00:08:06,000 okay 214 00:08:11,270 --> 00:08:08,319 so uh what i'd like to do then is just 215 00:08:14,150 --> 00:08:11,280 briefly go through 216 00:08:16,790 --> 00:08:14,160 the the stages involved in building up 217 00:08:18,469 --> 00:08:16,800 this kind of uh structure and the 218 00:08:19,430 --> 00:08:18,479 associated processes of growth and 219 00:08:21,589 --> 00:08:19,440 division 220 00:08:24,230 --> 00:08:21,599 um so we have to begin with the two 221 00:08:26,869 --> 00:08:24,240 basic components and think about 222 00:08:28,869 --> 00:08:26,879 how the vesicle uh membrane itself could 223 00:08:31,350 --> 00:08:28,879 grow and divide 224 00:08:35,670 --> 00:08:33,750 separately we can think about 225 00:08:38,149 --> 00:08:35,680 the genetic materials 226 00:08:39,829 --> 00:08:38,159 and how they could replicate 227 00:08:41,269 --> 00:08:39,839 and then things start to actually get 228 00:08:43,589 --> 00:08:41,279 more interesting 229 00:08:45,509 --> 00:08:43,599 when you can think about what's required 230 00:08:48,630 --> 00:08:45,519 to put these things together 231 00:08:50,470 --> 00:08:48,640 and have them work in a compatible way 232 00:08:52,829 --> 00:08:50,480 and so in fact today i'll be talking 233 00:08:54,790 --> 00:08:52,839 quite a bit about compatibility 234 00:08:57,190 --> 00:08:54,800 issues such as 235 00:08:58,870 --> 00:08:57,200 how the nucleotide building blocks for 236 00:09:00,389 --> 00:08:58,880 the genetic material might get across 237 00:09:02,310 --> 00:09:00,399 the membrane 238 00:09:04,870 --> 00:09:02,320 to allow internal 239 00:09:06,630 --> 00:09:04,880 replication of the genetic material 240 00:09:08,949 --> 00:09:06,640 to talk about that 241 00:09:12,310 --> 00:09:08,959 simply and chemistry 242 00:09:14,310 --> 00:09:12,320 and its compatibility with the 243 00:09:16,150 --> 00:09:14,320 chemistry of the bilayer 244 00:09:18,150 --> 00:09:16,160 and 245 00:09:20,949 --> 00:09:18,160 finally the issue of how to get the 246 00:09:23,350 --> 00:09:20,959 strands apart so that after template 247 00:09:24,470 --> 00:09:23,360 copying you can go to uh subsequent 248 00:09:26,230 --> 00:09:24,480 rounds 249 00:09:28,150 --> 00:09:26,240 and uh 250 00:09:30,310 --> 00:09:28,160 i probably won't have time today to talk 251 00:09:32,790 --> 00:09:30,320 about the highest level of 252 00:09:35,110 --> 00:09:32,800 interactions which are the 253 00:09:37,350 --> 00:09:35,120 more cooperative or positive 254 00:09:38,710 --> 00:09:37,360 interactions 255 00:09:40,310 --> 00:09:38,720 these are things we're just starting to 256 00:09:47,670 --> 00:09:40,320 work on 257 00:09:52,070 --> 00:09:49,990 okay so i'm going to start off by giving 258 00:09:53,670 --> 00:09:52,080 some background about 259 00:09:55,350 --> 00:09:53,680 the kinds of vesicles and the kinds of 260 00:09:56,470 --> 00:09:55,360 molecules 261 00:09:59,350 --> 00:09:56,480 that we're 262 00:10:02,310 --> 00:09:59,360 using to study 263 00:10:03,750 --> 00:10:02,320 vesicles that can grow and divide 264 00:10:05,350 --> 00:10:03,760 okay and so the kinds of molecules we 265 00:10:08,470 --> 00:10:05,360 use they're basically very 266 00:10:11,430 --> 00:10:08,480 uh simple uh fatty acids 267 00:10:13,670 --> 00:10:11,440 and the reason that we're not using 268 00:10:16,550 --> 00:10:13,680 uh molecules you might be more familiar 269 00:10:18,470 --> 00:10:16,560 with like phospholipids and cholesterol 270 00:10:21,910 --> 00:10:18,480 single and throw on the components of 271 00:10:24,470 --> 00:10:21,920 modern biological membranes is that 272 00:10:26,470 --> 00:10:24,480 modern cell membranes are designed 273 00:10:28,550 --> 00:10:26,480 to be very good barriers 274 00:10:29,670 --> 00:10:28,560 so that the protein machinery can 275 00:10:31,430 --> 00:10:29,680 control 276 00:10:33,030 --> 00:10:31,440 everything that gets in and out of 277 00:10:35,590 --> 00:10:33,040 modern cell 278 00:10:37,430 --> 00:10:35,600 but of course in the first cell 279 00:10:39,110 --> 00:10:37,440 there was no machinery to mediate the 280 00:10:41,670 --> 00:10:39,120 transport of molecules across the 281 00:10:43,110 --> 00:10:41,680 membrane and so we need to make 282 00:10:46,550 --> 00:10:43,120 membranes that have more dynamic 283 00:10:48,150 --> 00:10:46,560 structures and which can allow building 284 00:10:49,910 --> 00:10:48,160 blocks to get across 285 00:10:52,470 --> 00:10:49,920 and waste products to 286 00:10:53,990 --> 00:10:52,480 get into the cell spontaneously 287 00:10:56,150 --> 00:10:54,000 and these are the kinds of molecules 288 00:10:58,829 --> 00:10:56,160 that turns out 289 00:11:01,509 --> 00:10:58,839 that have the right properties so if we 290 00:11:03,750 --> 00:11:01,519 use uh oleic acid or the shorter chain 291 00:11:05,509 --> 00:11:03,760 meristeleic acid 292 00:11:07,110 --> 00:11:05,519 for a lot of our 293 00:11:09,430 --> 00:11:07,120 model studies 294 00:11:11,670 --> 00:11:09,440 and down here at the bottom you see uh 295 00:11:12,630 --> 00:11:11,680 caprication saturated 296 00:11:14,790 --> 00:11:12,640 uh 297 00:11:16,150 --> 00:11:14,800 shorter chain fatty acid 298 00:11:18,790 --> 00:11:16,160 which is something that's a little bit 299 00:11:21,590 --> 00:11:18,800 more prebiotically reasonable than those 300 00:11:23,030 --> 00:11:21,600 longer chain unsaturated fatty acids but 301 00:11:24,470 --> 00:11:23,040 all of these molecules will 302 00:11:28,790 --> 00:11:24,480 self-assemble 303 00:11:31,910 --> 00:11:28,800 into a bilayer membranes which can clog 304 00:11:36,949 --> 00:11:31,920 up and make vesicles uh 305 00:11:42,470 --> 00:11:39,269 okay so these uh fatty acid vesicles 306 00:11:44,949 --> 00:11:42,480 have a lot of uh interesting properties 307 00:11:47,269 --> 00:11:44,959 and uh among them 308 00:11:50,230 --> 00:11:47,279 the most important is the fact 309 00:11:52,550 --> 00:11:50,240 that the fatty acids will self-assemble 310 00:11:53,670 --> 00:11:52,560 uh into these larger much larger 311 00:11:55,430 --> 00:11:53,680 structures 312 00:11:57,829 --> 00:11:55,440 and so that's just 313 00:11:59,829 --> 00:11:57,839 it here 314 00:12:02,550 --> 00:11:59,839 typically when they're 315 00:12:03,670 --> 00:12:02,560 at high ph fatty acids will form 316 00:12:04,710 --> 00:12:03,680 small 317 00:12:06,629 --> 00:12:04,720 aggregates 318 00:12:09,430 --> 00:12:06,639 called micelle 319 00:12:10,790 --> 00:12:09,440 as you lower the ph and 320 00:12:12,629 --> 00:12:10,800 start to protonate more of the 321 00:12:14,870 --> 00:12:12,639 carboxylates 322 00:12:16,629 --> 00:12:14,880 these micelles can start to interact 323 00:12:19,269 --> 00:12:16,639 with each other 324 00:12:20,870 --> 00:12:19,279 assemble into small sheets 325 00:12:22,550 --> 00:12:20,880 and eventually when the sheets grow 326 00:12:24,949 --> 00:12:22,560 large enough 327 00:12:27,110 --> 00:12:24,959 the thermal fluctuations will ensure and 328 00:12:29,269 --> 00:12:27,120 know gradually eventually they'll round 329 00:12:32,550 --> 00:12:29,279 up and close in on themselves to make 330 00:12:38,470 --> 00:12:34,870 so this process is actually quite 331 00:12:40,069 --> 00:12:38,480 interesting and a little bit complicated 332 00:12:43,269 --> 00:12:40,079 there's a lag phase 333 00:12:45,750 --> 00:12:43,279 due to this nucleation step 334 00:12:48,470 --> 00:12:45,760 but interestingly the 335 00:12:50,949 --> 00:12:48,480 reaction then becomes autocatalytic 336 00:12:52,790 --> 00:12:50,959 in that these intermediate structures on 337 00:12:54,230 --> 00:12:52,800 the final vesicles will actually 338 00:12:56,069 --> 00:12:54,240 catalyze 339 00:12:57,269 --> 00:12:56,079 accelerate the rate of formation of new 340 00:12:59,590 --> 00:12:57,279 vesicles 341 00:13:01,509 --> 00:12:59,600 and that's something we'll come back to 342 00:13:03,829 --> 00:13:01,519 uh shortly 343 00:13:05,750 --> 00:13:03,839 okay so here is 344 00:13:07,350 --> 00:13:05,760 an image that shows you 345 00:13:09,509 --> 00:13:07,360 some of these 346 00:13:11,670 --> 00:13:09,519 vesicles in the background 347 00:13:13,430 --> 00:13:11,680 and illustrates again this important 348 00:13:15,590 --> 00:13:13,440 phase transition 349 00:13:16,870 --> 00:13:15,600 the fact that you go from myself to high 350 00:13:18,949 --> 00:13:16,880 ph 351 00:13:19,750 --> 00:13:18,959 and then these interact with each other 352 00:13:21,910 --> 00:13:19,760 and 353 00:13:23,750 --> 00:13:21,920 undergo this phase transition 354 00:13:24,870 --> 00:13:23,760 to a bilateral state 355 00:13:25,829 --> 00:13:24,880 at lower 356 00:13:27,509 --> 00:13:25,839 ph 357 00:13:29,350 --> 00:13:27,519 and this is very important because this 358 00:13:30,629 --> 00:13:29,360 allows us to 359 00:13:32,829 --> 00:13:30,639 feed 360 00:13:35,829 --> 00:13:32,839 pre-existing 361 00:13:37,910 --> 00:13:35,839 vesicles uh with new material in the 362 00:13:41,829 --> 00:13:37,920 form of fatty acids and that is 363 00:13:44,949 --> 00:13:42,949 okay 364 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:44,959 one of the things that i find 365 00:13:47,910 --> 00:13:45,920 kind of 366 00:13:48,870 --> 00:13:47,920 fascinating about these structures is 367 00:13:51,269 --> 00:13:48,880 that 368 00:13:53,509 --> 00:13:51,279 they're very long live individual 369 00:13:57,430 --> 00:13:53,519 vesicles last 370 00:13:59,189 --> 00:13:57,440 indefinitely at least weeks or months 371 00:14:00,069 --> 00:13:59,199 but we know from other experiments that 372 00:14:04,550 --> 00:14:00,079 the 373 00:14:08,389 --> 00:14:04,560 exchange 374 00:14:13,509 --> 00:14:10,790 so in this image you see two populations 375 00:14:15,509 --> 00:14:13,519 of vesicles labeled with different dyes 376 00:14:17,670 --> 00:14:15,519 they've been mixed for a day 377 00:14:20,069 --> 00:14:17,680 and you can see that the red and green 378 00:14:22,310 --> 00:14:20,079 vesicles have remained separate 379 00:14:24,230 --> 00:14:22,320 so they're not constantly fusing and 380 00:14:26,310 --> 00:14:24,240 separating they maintain their 381 00:14:28,310 --> 00:14:26,320 individual identity 382 00:14:31,910 --> 00:14:28,320 even though the fatty acid molecules go 383 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:36,150 very rapidly 384 00:14:37,910 --> 00:14:37,030 okay 385 00:14:40,310 --> 00:14:37,920 so 386 00:14:42,389 --> 00:14:40,320 i mentioned before that the 387 00:14:43,670 --> 00:14:42,399 self-assembled self-assembly of these 388 00:14:45,590 --> 00:14:43,680 vesicles 389 00:14:49,430 --> 00:14:45,600 is auto catalytic 390 00:14:51,670 --> 00:14:49,440 and just go back to that diagram 391 00:14:53,990 --> 00:14:51,680 several years ago when 392 00:14:55,110 --> 00:14:54,000 marty hanchik and shelly fujicallo were 393 00:14:57,110 --> 00:14:55,120 in my lab 394 00:14:59,030 --> 00:14:57,120 they were thinking about the auto 395 00:15:00,870 --> 00:14:59,040 catalytic aspect of this process i 396 00:15:02,389 --> 00:15:00,880 should mention that was first 397 00:15:06,310 --> 00:15:02,399 uh 398 00:15:08,470 --> 00:15:06,320 worked out in the lab of purely lucy 399 00:15:10,310 --> 00:15:08,480 and in fact the fact that fatty acids 400 00:15:12,629 --> 00:15:10,320 could make vesicles like this was worked 401 00:15:14,949 --> 00:15:12,639 out a long time ago uh in dave steemer's 402 00:15:17,030 --> 00:15:14,959 life so all of our work 403 00:15:19,990 --> 00:15:17,040 really builds on the pioneering efforts 404 00:15:21,750 --> 00:15:20,000 of the deemer and luisi labs 405 00:15:22,629 --> 00:15:21,760 okay so marty and shelly were thinking 406 00:15:24,870 --> 00:15:22,639 about 407 00:15:27,189 --> 00:15:24,880 the auto catalytic nature of bicycle 408 00:15:28,310 --> 00:15:27,199 self-assembly and they thought well 409 00:15:30,069 --> 00:15:28,320 maybe 410 00:15:31,829 --> 00:15:30,079 it's something to do 411 00:15:34,069 --> 00:15:31,839 with these surfaces there's some 412 00:15:36,550 --> 00:15:34,079 property of these negatively charged 413 00:15:39,030 --> 00:15:36,560 surfaces that 414 00:15:40,550 --> 00:15:39,040 in some way catalyzes the assembly of 415 00:15:42,949 --> 00:15:40,560 new membranes 416 00:15:45,350 --> 00:15:42,959 and so that made them think about what 417 00:15:49,189 --> 00:15:45,360 other kinds of surfaces might catalyze 418 00:15:52,829 --> 00:15:51,910 and so they start to think about various 419 00:15:55,670 --> 00:15:52,839 mineral 420 00:15:56,949 --> 00:15:55,680 surfaces and probably the most famous 421 00:15:59,269 --> 00:15:56,959 mineral 422 00:16:02,870 --> 00:15:59,279 at least in the prebiotic chemistry 423 00:16:04,310 --> 00:16:02,880 community is a clay mineral 424 00:16:05,990 --> 00:16:04,320 montmorillonite 425 00:16:08,230 --> 00:16:06,000 which was shown 426 00:16:10,150 --> 00:16:08,240 many years ago by jim ferriss when he 427 00:16:11,829 --> 00:16:10,160 was doing the sabbatical let's lovely 428 00:16:14,550 --> 00:16:11,839 orga 429 00:16:18,150 --> 00:16:14,560 to catalyze the assembly of activated 430 00:16:21,030 --> 00:16:18,160 nucleotides into long strands of rna 431 00:16:23,189 --> 00:16:21,040 so we happen to have sort of a sample of 432 00:16:25,509 --> 00:16:23,199 this clay from jim 433 00:16:28,470 --> 00:16:25,519 and uh so marty and we just decided to 434 00:16:31,269 --> 00:16:28,480 see if that clay would catalyze this 435 00:16:34,150 --> 00:16:31,279 classical assembly uh reaction 436 00:16:35,749 --> 00:16:34,160 and uh sure enough it did 437 00:16:37,350 --> 00:16:35,759 under some conditions that can 438 00:16:40,470 --> 00:16:37,360 accelerate 439 00:16:41,990 --> 00:16:40,480 vesicle assembly by over a hundred fold 440 00:16:44,629 --> 00:16:42,000 and when they went to look at the 441 00:16:46,550 --> 00:16:44,639 resulting vesicles in the microscope 442 00:16:48,150 --> 00:16:46,560 one of the really cool things they could 443 00:16:49,269 --> 00:16:48,160 see is that there are little particles 444 00:16:50,710 --> 00:16:49,279 of clay 445 00:16:53,030 --> 00:16:50,720 that end up 446 00:16:53,829 --> 00:16:53,040 trapped inside the vesicles that they 447 00:17:01,829 --> 00:16:53,839 have 448 00:17:04,549 --> 00:17:03,189 so 449 00:17:06,309 --> 00:17:04,559 that made them think 450 00:17:07,829 --> 00:17:06,319 about trying another experiment which 451 00:17:10,069 --> 00:17:07,839 was to 452 00:17:11,590 --> 00:17:10,079 absorb some rna molecules onto the 453 00:17:13,669 --> 00:17:11,600 surface of the clay 454 00:17:16,390 --> 00:17:13,679 so mimicking a situation in which the 455 00:17:18,470 --> 00:17:16,400 clay had actually catalyzed rna assembly 456 00:17:22,309 --> 00:17:18,480 and then see if that rna coded client 457 00:17:24,150 --> 00:17:22,319 could also catalyze vesicle assembly 458 00:17:25,189 --> 00:17:24,160 and uh 459 00:17:26,150 --> 00:17:25,199 it did 460 00:17:29,830 --> 00:17:26,160 and 461 00:17:32,150 --> 00:17:29,840 that those experiments resulted in 462 00:17:34,470 --> 00:17:32,160 some of these beautiful pictures where 463 00:17:35,750 --> 00:17:34,480 you can see here 464 00:17:38,950 --> 00:17:35,760 in orange 465 00:17:40,870 --> 00:17:38,960 are clay particles that are 466 00:17:43,190 --> 00:17:40,880 bearing 467 00:17:44,470 --> 00:17:43,200 fluorescently tagged rna molecules on 468 00:17:46,950 --> 00:17:44,480 their surface 469 00:17:48,789 --> 00:17:46,960 and you can see that this uh clay 470 00:17:51,510 --> 00:17:48,799 particle is trapped 471 00:17:52,549 --> 00:17:51,520 uh within this large 472 00:17:54,230 --> 00:17:52,559 vesicle 473 00:17:56,950 --> 00:17:54,240 which in turn is filled with hundreds of 474 00:17:58,789 --> 00:17:56,960 smaller vesicles all of which have been 475 00:18:02,630 --> 00:17:58,799 assembled under the influence of the 476 00:18:04,150 --> 00:18:02,640 surface of this mineral particle 477 00:18:05,430 --> 00:18:04,160 and the next slide just shows another 478 00:18:06,710 --> 00:18:05,440 example 479 00:18:09,029 --> 00:18:06,720 of that 480 00:18:11,909 --> 00:18:09,039 so again a clay particle 481 00:18:15,750 --> 00:18:11,919 with rna molecules on its surface 482 00:18:18,390 --> 00:18:15,760 inside a large vesicle in this case many 483 00:18:19,669 --> 00:18:18,400 closely spaced phyla membranes 484 00:18:21,750 --> 00:18:19,679 so 485 00:18:24,630 --> 00:18:21,760 these experiments 486 00:18:27,669 --> 00:18:24,640 in essence are showing that there's a 487 00:18:29,830 --> 00:18:27,679 simple very common abundant mineral that 488 00:18:31,029 --> 00:18:29,840 on the one hand can catalyze the 489 00:18:33,830 --> 00:18:31,039 assembly 490 00:18:35,029 --> 00:18:33,840 of a genetic material rna as shown by 491 00:18:37,110 --> 00:18:35,039 jim ferris 492 00:18:40,310 --> 00:18:37,120 on the other hand can catalyze the 493 00:18:43,590 --> 00:18:40,320 assembly of bilayer membrane 494 00:18:44,390 --> 00:18:43,600 as shown by uh marty and shelly 495 00:18:46,390 --> 00:18:44,400 and 496 00:18:48,310 --> 00:18:46,400 amazingly can actually bring them all 497 00:18:51,350 --> 00:18:48,320 together so it's bringing together the 498 00:18:53,909 --> 00:18:51,360 two main components of what we think of 499 00:18:54,830 --> 00:18:53,919 as a simple protocol 500 00:18:58,789 --> 00:18:54,840 so 501 00:19:00,310 --> 00:18:58,799 it's hard not to um 502 00:19:01,830 --> 00:19:00,320 to take the lesson from that the 503 00:19:06,230 --> 00:19:01,840 minerals may have played an important 504 00:19:10,390 --> 00:19:07,990 okay so 505 00:19:12,230 --> 00:19:10,400 that brings us that gives us the basic 506 00:19:13,350 --> 00:19:12,240 structure but it doesn't really tell us 507 00:19:15,190 --> 00:19:13,360 very much 508 00:19:17,430 --> 00:19:15,200 about 509 00:19:19,430 --> 00:19:17,440 how the membrane could grow and divide 510 00:19:21,590 --> 00:19:19,440 we have a continuous cycle of growth and 511 00:19:23,510 --> 00:19:21,600 division 512 00:19:25,110 --> 00:19:23,520 it also doesn't tell us anything about 513 00:19:27,430 --> 00:19:25,120 how we're going to get that genetic 514 00:19:30,470 --> 00:19:27,440 material to replicate 515 00:19:32,310 --> 00:19:30,480 okay so uh first i want to go over 516 00:19:33,590 --> 00:19:32,320 some additional experiments that were 517 00:19:36,950 --> 00:19:33,600 done by 518 00:19:40,150 --> 00:19:36,960 marty hanchik and shelly fujikawa 519 00:19:41,430 --> 00:19:40,160 on uh vertical growth and division 520 00:19:42,230 --> 00:19:41,440 all right 521 00:19:43,430 --> 00:19:42,240 very 522 00:19:46,150 --> 00:19:43,440 quickly 523 00:19:47,270 --> 00:19:46,160 uh the basic idea as i alluded to 524 00:19:49,590 --> 00:19:47,280 earlier 525 00:19:51,750 --> 00:19:49,600 is that you can take prove this thing 526 00:19:52,630 --> 00:19:51,760 that's a cult 527 00:19:54,710 --> 00:19:52,640 which 528 00:19:56,630 --> 00:19:54,720 basically just sits there if they're 529 00:19:58,630 --> 00:19:56,640 left alone 530 00:20:00,710 --> 00:19:58,640 and you can add 531 00:20:01,990 --> 00:20:00,720 additional fatty acids in the form of 532 00:20:03,830 --> 00:20:02,000 micelles 533 00:20:06,710 --> 00:20:03,840 and when they're mixed 534 00:20:08,870 --> 00:20:06,720 molecules from the micelles 535 00:20:11,430 --> 00:20:08,880 tend to integrate into the bilayer 536 00:20:12,870 --> 00:20:11,440 membrane so that it grows 537 00:20:15,190 --> 00:20:12,880 and 538 00:20:17,909 --> 00:20:15,200 that was first seen in cryo-em 539 00:20:19,190 --> 00:20:17,919 experiments by the luigi lab 540 00:20:21,669 --> 00:20:19,200 and 541 00:20:23,750 --> 00:20:21,679 we tend to 542 00:20:25,350 --> 00:20:23,760 use a fluorescence-based assay to follow 543 00:20:27,110 --> 00:20:25,360 the membrane growth 544 00:20:28,630 --> 00:20:27,120 and here the idea is just that 545 00:20:32,149 --> 00:20:28,640 intercalated 546 00:20:35,190 --> 00:20:32,159 donor and acceptor fluorescence sides 547 00:20:37,430 --> 00:20:35,200 get spread apart as they get diluted 548 00:20:40,230 --> 00:20:37,440 when additional exophiles enter into 549 00:20:42,789 --> 00:20:40,240 this membrane so the change in fret 550 00:20:44,549 --> 00:20:42,799 efficiency gives you a real-time assay 551 00:20:45,750 --> 00:20:44,559 that you can use to follow vesicle 552 00:20:48,149 --> 00:20:45,760 growth 553 00:20:49,430 --> 00:20:48,159 and in doing lots of experience of that 554 00:20:51,750 --> 00:20:49,440 sort 555 00:20:52,470 --> 00:20:51,760 marty and shelly were able to show that 556 00:20:57,029 --> 00:20:52,480 the 557 00:20:59,909 --> 00:20:57,039 sense that as much as 90 558 00:21:03,110 --> 00:20:59,919 of the newly added fatty acids 559 00:21:04,870 --> 00:21:03,120 could be incorporated into a pre-formed 560 00:21:08,390 --> 00:21:04,880 vesicle 561 00:21:11,990 --> 00:21:08,400 okay so once they're grown 562 00:21:14,310 --> 00:21:12,000 it turns out that there's a very easy 563 00:21:16,870 --> 00:21:14,320 and deficient and somewhat artificial 564 00:21:18,310 --> 00:21:16,880 way of making them divide and that is to 565 00:21:19,750 --> 00:21:18,320 simply take 566 00:21:22,390 --> 00:21:19,760 large vesicles 567 00:21:23,430 --> 00:21:22,400 and force them to small pores 568 00:21:25,750 --> 00:21:23,440 and 569 00:21:26,789 --> 00:21:25,760 somehow on the other side become small 570 00:21:29,110 --> 00:21:26,799 ethical 571 00:21:33,669 --> 00:21:31,750 exactly what happens it's still not 572 00:21:36,549 --> 00:21:33,679 completely clear 573 00:21:39,750 --> 00:21:36,559 but we do know that most of the contents 574 00:21:41,590 --> 00:21:39,760 remain inside okay the surface to volume 575 00:21:43,029 --> 00:21:41,600 ratio changes so of course you have to 576 00:21:45,270 --> 00:21:43,039 lose some 577 00:21:47,190 --> 00:21:45,280 of the contents but basically 578 00:21:48,950 --> 00:21:47,200 the the uh 579 00:21:51,830 --> 00:21:48,960 the aqueous contents whatever they are 580 00:21:53,750 --> 00:21:51,840 retain remain at the same concentration 581 00:21:57,190 --> 00:21:53,760 so that tells us that the vesicle is 582 00:21:58,950 --> 00:21:57,200 nothing ripped apart and then reforming 583 00:22:00,070 --> 00:21:58,960 once it exits the 584 00:22:01,430 --> 00:22:00,080 pore 585 00:22:03,430 --> 00:22:01,440 but rather 586 00:22:07,029 --> 00:22:03,440 a spherical vesicle is probably being 587 00:22:08,870 --> 00:22:07,039 elongated and then pinched apart 588 00:22:11,029 --> 00:22:08,880 more like a biological 589 00:22:13,750 --> 00:22:11,039 division process 590 00:22:15,590 --> 00:22:13,760 so that's also very efficient and that 591 00:22:17,350 --> 00:22:15,600 allows you to 592 00:22:19,029 --> 00:22:17,360 combine the 593 00:22:21,669 --> 00:22:19,039 process of growth 594 00:22:24,390 --> 00:22:21,679 and division to make a cycle 595 00:22:26,149 --> 00:22:24,400 that can be repeated indefinitely 596 00:22:28,789 --> 00:22:26,159 so for example in this experiment we 597 00:22:30,310 --> 00:22:28,799 start off with small vesicles 598 00:22:31,669 --> 00:22:30,320 that grow 599 00:22:32,630 --> 00:22:31,679 divided 600 00:22:37,350 --> 00:22:32,640 grow 601 00:22:38,830 --> 00:22:37,360 cetera 602 00:22:41,830 --> 00:22:38,840 and in every 603 00:22:44,310 --> 00:22:41,840 generation the contents are distributed 604 00:22:46,549 --> 00:22:44,320 to daughter classical and the membrane 605 00:22:48,070 --> 00:22:46,559 material is also distributed to the 606 00:22:49,350 --> 00:22:48,080 daughter vesicle 607 00:22:51,750 --> 00:22:49,360 so 608 00:22:53,350 --> 00:22:51,760 in that sense it's like a primitive form 609 00:22:55,990 --> 00:22:53,360 of cell division 610 00:22:58,149 --> 00:22:56,000 okay but only focusing on the membrane 611 00:22:59,430 --> 00:22:58,159 part of the cell 612 00:23:02,310 --> 00:22:59,440 okay 613 00:23:04,310 --> 00:23:02,320 all right so uh so what about 614 00:23:06,390 --> 00:23:04,320 the genetic contents we need to have 615 00:23:07,590 --> 00:23:06,400 some kind of molecule that can encode 616 00:23:10,710 --> 00:23:07,600 information 617 00:23:13,510 --> 00:23:10,720 and have the potential to do something 618 00:23:17,590 --> 00:23:13,520 useful for the cell in its cycle of 619 00:23:23,750 --> 00:23:21,110 and so here everything that we've done 620 00:23:26,149 --> 00:23:23,760 completely built on the pioneering work 621 00:23:27,750 --> 00:23:26,159 of the late leslie orgo 622 00:23:29,510 --> 00:23:27,760 who for decades 623 00:23:31,190 --> 00:23:29,520 studied a lot with his students and 624 00:23:35,669 --> 00:23:31,200 colleagues 625 00:23:38,789 --> 00:23:35,679 the chemistry of non-enzymatic 626 00:23:41,510 --> 00:23:38,799 copying of templates primarily rna but 627 00:23:43,350 --> 00:23:41,520 also dna and occasionally 628 00:23:45,510 --> 00:23:43,360 you ventured a little bit further away 629 00:23:48,630 --> 00:23:45,520 into some related polymers which is 630 00:23:50,630 --> 00:23:48,640 where we've taken up the excel 631 00:23:51,669 --> 00:23:50,640 what i'm showing you here is a classical 632 00:23:54,630 --> 00:23:51,679 type of 633 00:23:59,350 --> 00:23:57,750 chemical uh copying of an rna template 634 00:24:01,430 --> 00:23:59,360 strand this is an experiment done by 635 00:24:02,470 --> 00:24:01,440 david horning several years ago in the 636 00:24:05,750 --> 00:24:02,480 lab 637 00:24:07,190 --> 00:24:05,760 and it shows you that uh this kind of 638 00:24:08,470 --> 00:24:07,200 copying is 639 00:24:13,190 --> 00:24:08,480 uh 640 00:24:17,510 --> 00:24:13,200 reasonably efficient so here we're 641 00:24:19,190 --> 00:24:17,520 adding g's to copy a short stretch of 642 00:24:21,669 --> 00:24:19,200 sea template 643 00:24:23,430 --> 00:24:21,679 and you can see over a couple of days 644 00:24:25,190 --> 00:24:23,440 the primer grows by a couple of 645 00:24:26,950 --> 00:24:25,200 nucleotides 646 00:24:28,630 --> 00:24:26,960 it works pretty well and pretty 647 00:24:30,710 --> 00:24:28,640 accurately 648 00:24:34,950 --> 00:24:30,720 when with c and g's 649 00:24:37,590 --> 00:24:34,960 a lot more slowly with ace and used 650 00:24:39,590 --> 00:24:37,600 and when you have the possibility for gu 651 00:24:42,630 --> 00:24:39,600 level space fairing 652 00:24:44,310 --> 00:24:42,640 the accuracy also tends to go down 653 00:24:46,470 --> 00:24:44,320 so the basic problem 654 00:24:48,870 --> 00:24:46,480 that we've been trying to overcome 655 00:24:51,669 --> 00:24:48,880 are to find a chemical 656 00:24:54,630 --> 00:24:51,679 replication system that is fast 657 00:24:56,870 --> 00:24:54,640 efficient and accurate 658 00:24:59,190 --> 00:24:56,880 in order to do that we're stepping away 659 00:25:01,269 --> 00:24:59,200 from the requirements that everything 660 00:25:03,590 --> 00:25:01,279 absolutely has to be prebiotically 661 00:25:06,310 --> 00:25:03,600 reasonable we just want to find 662 00:25:07,990 --> 00:25:06,320 some chemical system that works 663 00:25:10,310 --> 00:25:08,000 and the hope is that eventually that 664 00:25:12,789 --> 00:25:10,320 will give us ideas that will let us go 665 00:25:17,510 --> 00:25:12,799 back to more plausible 666 00:25:22,310 --> 00:25:21,269 okay so uh in order to do that 667 00:25:23,590 --> 00:25:22,320 what we're 668 00:25:25,590 --> 00:25:23,600 looking at 669 00:25:28,149 --> 00:25:25,600 are monomers 670 00:25:31,750 --> 00:25:30,390 different in several ways from 671 00:25:33,909 --> 00:25:31,760 the modern 672 00:25:36,390 --> 00:25:33,919 nucleophile triphosphates that are used 673 00:25:37,990 --> 00:25:36,400 to make rna and dna 674 00:25:39,830 --> 00:25:38,000 so over 675 00:25:41,430 --> 00:25:39,840 on this side we have the modern 676 00:25:43,669 --> 00:25:41,440 biological monomers with their 677 00:25:46,149 --> 00:25:43,679 triphosphates 678 00:25:48,310 --> 00:25:46,159 and these require very sophisticated 679 00:25:50,230 --> 00:25:48,320 enzymes to get the large reed 680 00:25:52,149 --> 00:25:50,240 enhancements that are required to make 681 00:25:55,110 --> 00:25:52,159 rna and dna 682 00:25:58,549 --> 00:25:56,870 they're also very highly charged which 683 00:26:00,549 --> 00:25:58,559 is good because that way they don't leak 684 00:26:03,990 --> 00:26:00,559 out itself 685 00:26:06,230 --> 00:26:04,000 what we need is something that is 686 00:26:08,470 --> 00:26:06,240 less charged so it can get across the 687 00:26:10,630 --> 00:26:08,480 membrane into the cell 688 00:26:13,430 --> 00:26:10,640 we want it to be more reactive 689 00:26:15,830 --> 00:26:13,440 so we use a harder leaving group things 690 00:26:18,710 --> 00:26:15,840 like imidazole 691 00:26:21,190 --> 00:26:18,720 we use a harder nucleophile so typically 692 00:26:22,789 --> 00:26:21,200 an amine instead of a hydroxyl it's a 693 00:26:25,110 --> 00:26:22,799 nucleophile 694 00:26:27,590 --> 00:26:25,120 we also can play around with the nuclear 695 00:26:30,470 --> 00:26:27,600 base to try to 696 00:26:34,710 --> 00:26:30,480 modulate the strength of base pairing 697 00:26:37,830 --> 00:26:35,590 we 698 00:26:38,789 --> 00:26:37,840 can also play around with the sugar part 699 00:26:40,789 --> 00:26:38,799 of the 700 00:26:43,190 --> 00:26:40,799 monomer so that we make polymers with 701 00:26:46,630 --> 00:26:43,200 different sugar phosphate backbone 702 00:26:47,430 --> 00:26:46,640 and that way we can play around with 703 00:26:49,110 --> 00:26:47,440 the 704 00:26:50,710 --> 00:26:49,120 effects of 705 00:26:52,470 --> 00:26:50,720 conformational constraints or 706 00:26:54,230 --> 00:26:52,480 flexibility 707 00:26:56,950 --> 00:26:54,240 and so on 708 00:26:58,390 --> 00:26:56,960 so when we use these modified building 709 00:27:00,470 --> 00:26:58,400 blocks 710 00:27:03,830 --> 00:27:00,480 these are the kinds of 711 00:27:08,630 --> 00:27:03,840 nucleic acids that we end up making so 712 00:27:13,269 --> 00:27:10,630 phosphate diester types 713 00:27:16,310 --> 00:27:13,279 of polymers 714 00:27:18,549 --> 00:27:16,320 at the bottom you see the corresponding 715 00:27:24,070 --> 00:27:18,559 nitrogen substituted versions which are 716 00:27:30,549 --> 00:27:24,950 so 717 00:27:33,110 --> 00:27:30,559 the false remedy analog of dna 718 00:27:35,190 --> 00:27:33,120 next to it we have the same thing except 719 00:27:37,510 --> 00:27:35,200 with the two prime five prime 720 00:27:38,870 --> 00:27:37,520 linkage instead of the standard three 721 00:27:40,789 --> 00:27:38,880 prime linkage 722 00:27:42,149 --> 00:27:40,799 and this is interesting because in a lot 723 00:27:44,470 --> 00:27:42,159 of 724 00:27:45,990 --> 00:27:44,480 organelles experiments they found 725 00:27:47,430 --> 00:27:46,000 that 726 00:27:48,630 --> 00:27:47,440 with rna 727 00:27:50,549 --> 00:27:48,640 monomers 728 00:27:52,630 --> 00:27:50,559 you made a mixture of two prime and 729 00:27:57,110 --> 00:27:52,640 three prime linkages which seems that 730 00:28:00,470 --> 00:27:58,389 over here 731 00:28:02,630 --> 00:28:00,480 we have a slightly different sugar of 732 00:28:04,789 --> 00:28:02,640 four carbon sugar three oh 733 00:28:08,630 --> 00:28:04,799 so this makes q a 734 00:28:10,789 --> 00:28:08,640 um a nucleic acid uh first made in the 735 00:28:12,950 --> 00:28:10,799 essential group 736 00:28:15,510 --> 00:28:12,960 which remarkably has a shorter 737 00:28:25,750 --> 00:28:15,520 backbone repeat unit and yet it's still 738 00:28:32,789 --> 00:28:28,789 on the far side we have glycerol nucleic 739 00:28:36,710 --> 00:28:32,799 acid with an acyclic 740 00:28:39,750 --> 00:28:36,720 backbone repeat unit again 741 00:28:41,750 --> 00:28:39,760 very different in structure from dna 742 00:28:44,549 --> 00:28:41,760 but also a perfectly good base faring 743 00:28:46,870 --> 00:28:44,559 system 744 00:28:49,750 --> 00:28:46,880 so by looking at these different 745 00:28:52,549 --> 00:28:49,760 polymers we can assess 746 00:28:53,590 --> 00:28:52,559 different factors that might contribute 747 00:28:57,430 --> 00:28:53,600 to 748 00:28:59,430 --> 00:28:57,440 replication efficiency and accuracy 749 00:29:00,710 --> 00:28:59,440 such as how well constrained or how 750 00:29:03,510 --> 00:29:00,720 flexible 751 00:29:05,669 --> 00:29:03,520 the template is how pre-organized 752 00:29:08,310 --> 00:29:05,679 templates are 753 00:29:10,710 --> 00:29:08,320 how the helical geometry influences the 754 00:29:12,389 --> 00:29:10,720 reaction rate and so on 755 00:29:14,710 --> 00:29:12,399 so i'm not going to go through all of 756 00:29:17,990 --> 00:29:14,720 the chemistry involved 757 00:29:19,269 --> 00:29:18,000 to make these polymers and the activated 758 00:29:20,950 --> 00:29:19,279 monomers 759 00:29:24,070 --> 00:29:20,960 i'm just going to show you a couple of 760 00:29:26,070 --> 00:29:24,080 examples from our more most successful 761 00:29:28,230 --> 00:29:26,080 experiments 762 00:29:30,149 --> 00:29:28,240 okay so 763 00:29:31,269 --> 00:29:30,159 so here's one example 764 00:29:32,549 --> 00:29:31,279 where we're 765 00:29:36,549 --> 00:29:32,559 copying 766 00:29:37,510 --> 00:29:36,559 a dna template which is a stretch of c 767 00:29:40,789 --> 00:29:37,520 using 768 00:29:41,909 --> 00:29:40,799 this monomer which is basically standard 769 00:29:43,590 --> 00:29:41,919 g 770 00:29:46,470 --> 00:29:43,600 uh hooked up 771 00:29:48,549 --> 00:29:46,480 to deoxyribose with an immunogroup in 772 00:29:50,950 --> 00:29:48,559 the two prime position 773 00:29:53,190 --> 00:29:50,960 and over here on the phosphate we have 774 00:29:55,669 --> 00:29:53,200 imidazole as a leaving group 775 00:29:58,389 --> 00:29:55,679 so it's a very reactive monomer 776 00:30:01,830 --> 00:29:58,399 when you add it to this primer template 777 00:30:04,470 --> 00:30:01,840 you can watch the primer get extended 778 00:30:07,110 --> 00:30:04,480 with a chain of g's 779 00:30:09,430 --> 00:30:07,120 as it copies the 780 00:30:12,149 --> 00:30:09,440 see a section of the template and then 781 00:30:13,830 --> 00:30:12,159 the reaction stops when it hits the a 782 00:30:15,590 --> 00:30:13,840 you can see that over here here's the 783 00:30:17,830 --> 00:30:15,600 starting primer 784 00:30:19,669 --> 00:30:17,840 over the course of a few hours you see 785 00:30:21,110 --> 00:30:19,679 all the intermediates 786 00:30:23,669 --> 00:30:21,120 and then by six hours you're 787 00:30:25,430 --> 00:30:23,679 accumulating full length products 788 00:30:27,510 --> 00:30:25,440 and at the end of the day 789 00:30:33,190 --> 00:30:27,520 the reaction's pretty much stopped 790 00:30:38,310 --> 00:30:35,269 this is a reaction that is done 791 00:30:40,389 --> 00:30:38,320 completely without any enzyme 792 00:30:46,070 --> 00:30:40,399 it's just a chemical 793 00:30:51,750 --> 00:30:48,149 what we would like is to have something 794 00:30:54,549 --> 00:30:51,760 like this that it's completely general 795 00:30:57,430 --> 00:30:54,559 that works with all bases it works with 796 00:31:00,230 --> 00:30:57,440 mixed sequence templates 797 00:31:02,470 --> 00:31:00,240 and it works very high accuracy 798 00:31:04,070 --> 00:31:02,480 and so we're not there yet but that's 799 00:31:07,990 --> 00:31:04,080 what we're going to be working on a lot 800 00:31:11,909 --> 00:31:09,110 the next 801 00:31:13,750 --> 00:31:11,919 slide here shows you a similar kind of 802 00:31:15,669 --> 00:31:13,760 example 803 00:31:16,870 --> 00:31:15,679 where the monomer 804 00:31:20,070 --> 00:31:16,880 has 805 00:31:21,909 --> 00:31:20,080 the reactive nucleophile on the normal 806 00:31:23,669 --> 00:31:21,919 three prime position 807 00:31:25,750 --> 00:31:23,679 and in this case 808 00:31:27,590 --> 00:31:25,760 the monomer has is an a 809 00:31:29,750 --> 00:31:27,600 residue and this 810 00:31:30,950 --> 00:31:29,760 activated monomer can copy a stretch of 811 00:31:33,350 --> 00:31:30,960 keys 812 00:31:35,350 --> 00:31:33,360 and so again over here 813 00:31:38,549 --> 00:31:35,360 you can see over 814 00:31:41,110 --> 00:31:38,559 the course of a day or two 815 00:31:43,350 --> 00:31:41,120 the accumulation of full length 816 00:31:46,310 --> 00:31:43,360 copied template 817 00:31:48,149 --> 00:31:46,320 the thing that's a little bit ironic is 818 00:31:51,350 --> 00:31:48,159 that 819 00:31:53,269 --> 00:31:51,360 this three prime x the two prime amino 820 00:31:55,830 --> 00:31:53,279 nucleotides 821 00:31:58,950 --> 00:31:55,840 system works well in copying a's and 822 00:32:00,710 --> 00:31:58,960 keys but pooling for g's and c's 823 00:32:02,950 --> 00:32:00,720 the one i showed you before works well 824 00:32:04,630 --> 00:32:02,960 with j's and c so poorly 825 00:32:06,789 --> 00:32:04,640 for age of keys 826 00:32:09,110 --> 00:32:06,799 we don't really understand yet 827 00:32:11,350 --> 00:32:09,120 completely why that's the case 828 00:32:14,549 --> 00:32:11,360 um but we have some ideas we're trying 829 00:32:16,630 --> 00:32:14,559 to sort this out and hopefully in the 830 00:32:20,070 --> 00:32:16,640 end we'll converge on a system that can 831 00:32:23,029 --> 00:32:20,080 copy any mix sequence 832 00:32:25,909 --> 00:32:23,039 okay but for now we can use this kind of 833 00:32:29,590 --> 00:32:25,919 chemical template copier 834 00:32:31,509 --> 00:32:29,600 as a model to look at some of the 835 00:32:34,710 --> 00:32:31,519 more interesting questions about the 836 00:32:37,590 --> 00:32:34,720 interaction of nucleic acid replication 837 00:32:39,590 --> 00:32:37,600 and vesicle replication 838 00:32:44,549 --> 00:32:39,600 okay so that's what i want to head into 839 00:32:48,870 --> 00:32:47,190 so one of the main issues 840 00:32:51,110 --> 00:32:48,880 in thinking about this 841 00:32:52,149 --> 00:32:51,120 is how to get those activated building 842 00:32:54,549 --> 00:32:52,159 blocks 843 00:32:56,950 --> 00:32:54,559 across the membrane bilayer to the 844 00:32:59,029 --> 00:32:56,960 inside of the vesicle where we want 845 00:33:01,669 --> 00:32:59,039 nucleic acid replication to be taking 846 00:33:05,669 --> 00:33:03,669 and we kind of avoided getting into 847 00:33:07,269 --> 00:33:05,679 these experiments for a long time 848 00:33:09,350 --> 00:33:07,279 because we were just used to thinking 849 00:33:11,990 --> 00:33:09,360 about modern biological membranes and 850 00:33:14,470 --> 00:33:12,000 the idea that something as large 851 00:33:17,509 --> 00:33:14,480 as poor and charged as a nucleotide 852 00:33:19,669 --> 00:33:17,519 would get across a bilayer membrane 853 00:33:20,870 --> 00:33:19,679 that any kind of help from a channel or 854 00:33:23,029 --> 00:33:20,880 a pump 855 00:33:25,509 --> 00:33:23,039 seemed kind of crazy 856 00:33:27,029 --> 00:33:25,519 but in fact uh when you make the 857 00:33:29,990 --> 00:33:27,039 membranes out of the right building 858 00:33:30,950 --> 00:33:30,000 blocks it turns out that it can work 859 00:33:31,990 --> 00:33:30,960 okay 860 00:33:34,630 --> 00:33:32,000 so 861 00:33:36,549 --> 00:33:34,640 we started looking at permeability 862 00:33:38,630 --> 00:33:36,559 several years ago 863 00:33:39,830 --> 00:33:38,640 with somewhat smaller molecules just the 864 00:33:41,430 --> 00:33:39,840 sugars 865 00:33:43,590 --> 00:33:41,440 and these are experiments that were done 866 00:33:44,630 --> 00:33:43,600 uh by michael sacrado when he was in my 867 00:33:46,230 --> 00:33:44,640 lab 868 00:33:47,669 --> 00:33:46,240 and michael used 869 00:33:49,750 --> 00:33:47,679 a very simple 870 00:33:53,110 --> 00:33:49,760 intuitive asset 871 00:33:55,909 --> 00:33:53,120 that is based on making vesicles with an 872 00:33:59,269 --> 00:33:55,919 encapsulated fluorescent dye 873 00:34:02,389 --> 00:33:59,279 when you add a solute such as the sugar 874 00:34:04,070 --> 00:34:02,399 two vesicles with this dye calcium 875 00:34:06,549 --> 00:34:04,080 the first thing that happens is that 876 00:34:09,430 --> 00:34:06,559 water rushes out of the vesicles 877 00:34:11,750 --> 00:34:09,440 to equalize the osmotic pressure 878 00:34:14,950 --> 00:34:11,760 the result is that the dye on the inside 879 00:34:15,909 --> 00:34:14,960 gets more complicated more concentrated 880 00:34:17,669 --> 00:34:15,919 and 881 00:34:19,829 --> 00:34:17,679 the fluorescence in this case is 882 00:34:21,669 --> 00:34:19,839 self-clenching so this fluorescence 883 00:34:23,750 --> 00:34:21,679 intensity goes down 884 00:34:26,069 --> 00:34:23,760 and then more slowly 885 00:34:28,629 --> 00:34:26,079 as solute and water 886 00:34:31,990 --> 00:34:28,639 gradually diffuse into the vesicle 887 00:34:34,310 --> 00:34:32,000 it relaxes back to its initial 888 00:34:35,510 --> 00:34:34,320 spherical state and the dye becomes 889 00:34:37,270 --> 00:34:35,520 diluted 890 00:34:39,510 --> 00:34:37,280 the crunching is reduced and the 891 00:34:42,069 --> 00:34:39,520 fluorescence intensity returns to the 892 00:34:44,310 --> 00:34:42,079 original value 893 00:34:46,069 --> 00:34:44,320 okay so i'm just going to show you 894 00:34:47,190 --> 00:34:46,079 one of michael's experiments in which he 895 00:34:49,270 --> 00:34:47,200 compared 896 00:34:50,550 --> 00:34:49,280 a set of four sugars 897 00:34:51,829 --> 00:34:50,560 and these are 898 00:34:54,470 --> 00:34:51,839 the four 899 00:34:57,910 --> 00:34:54,480 ribose and it's three diastereomers 900 00:34:59,910 --> 00:34:57,920 elixirs ravenous and xylose so they're 901 00:35:02,870 --> 00:34:59,920 very sugars very 902 00:35:05,510 --> 00:35:02,880 similar sugars they differ only in 903 00:35:08,150 --> 00:35:05,520 whether the two and three prime hydroxyl 904 00:35:10,630 --> 00:35:08,160 are facing up or down relative to the 905 00:35:14,829 --> 00:35:10,640 plane of the of the ring 906 00:35:16,630 --> 00:35:14,839 so the results were pretty surprising 907 00:35:17,670 --> 00:35:16,640 and 908 00:35:21,109 --> 00:35:17,680 the main 909 00:35:23,750 --> 00:35:21,119 thing we saw was that ribose 910 00:35:25,430 --> 00:35:23,760 entered these vesicles three to ten 911 00:35:27,829 --> 00:35:25,440 times faster 912 00:35:32,069 --> 00:35:27,839 than its close relative 913 00:35:36,470 --> 00:35:34,550 so we still don't exactly know why that 914 00:35:38,550 --> 00:35:36,480 is we have some models there are 915 00:35:39,589 --> 00:35:38,560 performance that could be done to test 916 00:35:40,870 --> 00:35:39,599 us 917 00:35:44,390 --> 00:35:40,880 but the 918 00:35:46,950 --> 00:35:44,400 strikingly faster permeability of rivas 919 00:35:49,829 --> 00:35:46,960 i think is very suggestive 920 00:35:51,750 --> 00:35:49,839 and maybe the idea is that maybe this 921 00:35:53,829 --> 00:35:51,760 kind of unexpected 922 00:35:55,349 --> 00:35:53,839 physical property 923 00:35:57,510 --> 00:35:55,359 was just one of 924 00:36:00,630 --> 00:35:57,520 perhaps many contributing factors that 925 00:36:02,550 --> 00:36:00,640 led to the emergence of ribose as the 926 00:36:04,150 --> 00:36:02,560 dominant sugar in 927 00:36:05,750 --> 00:36:04,160 genetic polymers 928 00:36:07,430 --> 00:36:05,760 so the idea is if you had a very 929 00:36:08,950 --> 00:36:07,440 primitive cell with some internal 930 00:36:12,550 --> 00:36:08,960 metabolism 931 00:36:15,190 --> 00:36:12,560 that made use of sugars from the outside 932 00:36:18,630 --> 00:36:15,200 any cell that relied on ribose 933 00:36:21,190 --> 00:36:18,640 would have much easier faster access to 934 00:36:23,910 --> 00:36:21,200 that substrate than a competing cell 935 00:36:25,109 --> 00:36:23,920 that required for example xylo or 936 00:36:27,109 --> 00:36:25,119 abnormal 937 00:36:29,109 --> 00:36:27,119 okay so just a physical 938 00:36:31,190 --> 00:36:29,119 difference in the permeability of argos 939 00:36:32,630 --> 00:36:31,200 would confer an advantage 940 00:36:34,230 --> 00:36:32,640 maybe that 941 00:36:36,069 --> 00:36:34,240 is something 942 00:36:38,630 --> 00:36:36,079 relevant to the emergence of the rna 943 00:36:42,310 --> 00:36:40,470 okay so 944 00:36:45,510 --> 00:36:42,320 having seen that we could get molecules 945 00:36:48,150 --> 00:36:45,520 of polar and sugars across these uh 946 00:36:50,710 --> 00:36:48,160 across fatty acid membranes 947 00:36:53,990 --> 00:36:50,720 uh reasonably rapidly 948 00:36:55,990 --> 00:36:54,000 it encouraged us to look at larger and 949 00:36:57,270 --> 00:36:56,000 more polar molecules namely the 950 00:36:59,829 --> 00:36:57,280 nucleotides 951 00:37:02,470 --> 00:36:59,839 that we need for uh 952 00:37:04,870 --> 00:37:02,480 for internal replication 953 00:37:07,270 --> 00:37:04,880 and so this is work that was done by 954 00:37:10,550 --> 00:37:07,280 sharif nancy when he was a postdoc in 955 00:37:11,510 --> 00:37:10,560 the lab up until about a year ago 956 00:37:14,390 --> 00:37:11,520 and 957 00:37:16,550 --> 00:37:14,400 what sharif did to look at 958 00:37:18,390 --> 00:37:16,560 the movement of nucleotides across a 959 00:37:21,270 --> 00:37:18,400 bilayer membrane was just to prepare 960 00:37:24,790 --> 00:37:21,280 vesicles that were loaded up 961 00:37:27,109 --> 00:37:24,800 with a particular nucleotide 962 00:37:29,910 --> 00:37:27,119 and then he would just measure the rate 963 00:37:31,109 --> 00:37:29,920 at which material leaked out using size 964 00:37:33,190 --> 00:37:31,119 exclusion 965 00:37:35,190 --> 00:37:33,200 chromatography 966 00:37:37,190 --> 00:37:35,200 and what he found was that 967 00:37:38,710 --> 00:37:37,200 you can see from these these top lines 968 00:37:39,589 --> 00:37:38,720 represent data 969 00:37:40,470 --> 00:37:39,599 um 970 00:37:42,950 --> 00:37:40,480 from 971 00:37:44,630 --> 00:37:42,960 normal nucleotide monophosphates so 972 00:37:46,630 --> 00:37:44,640 these molecules have two negative 973 00:37:49,589 --> 00:37:46,640 charges on the phosphate 974 00:37:51,750 --> 00:37:49,599 and they leak out very slowly only a few 975 00:37:54,790 --> 00:37:51,760 percent over a day 976 00:37:57,109 --> 00:37:54,800 but when you look at the 977 00:37:58,630 --> 00:37:57,119 activated nucleotides 978 00:38:00,950 --> 00:37:58,640 the ones that have something like 979 00:38:03,030 --> 00:38:00,960 imidazole on the phosphate 980 00:38:05,829 --> 00:38:03,040 they have one less charge 981 00:38:06,870 --> 00:38:05,839 and now you see that they leak out a lot 982 00:38:09,190 --> 00:38:06,880 faster 983 00:38:11,030 --> 00:38:09,200 in fact they equilibrate over with a 984 00:38:14,069 --> 00:38:11,040 half time of about 985 00:38:18,950 --> 00:38:15,109 so 986 00:38:20,630 --> 00:38:18,960 system which are these 987 00:38:22,150 --> 00:38:20,640 14 carbon 988 00:38:23,670 --> 00:38:22,160 fatty acids 989 00:38:25,829 --> 00:38:23,680 and 990 00:38:27,589 --> 00:38:25,839 mixed in with the glycerol ester 991 00:38:30,829 --> 00:38:27,599 we can look at the same thing using a 992 00:38:33,349 --> 00:38:30,839 more prebiotically plausible mixture 993 00:38:36,790 --> 00:38:33,359 of anti-files 994 00:38:38,069 --> 00:38:36,800 and that data is shown here so this is a 995 00:38:39,750 --> 00:38:38,079 set of 996 00:38:42,310 --> 00:38:39,760 anti-files that are 997 00:38:44,230 --> 00:38:42,320 10 carbon saturated chains 998 00:38:47,349 --> 00:38:44,240 and we see very similar 999 00:38:50,069 --> 00:38:47,359 data almost superimposable 1000 00:38:52,710 --> 00:38:50,079 so activated nucleotides again 1001 00:38:55,349 --> 00:38:52,720 can can get across these these membranes 1002 00:38:57,670 --> 00:38:55,359 in a reasonable time scale 1003 00:38:59,990 --> 00:38:57,680 okay so now we have 1004 00:39:01,430 --> 00:39:00,000 in hand the chemistry of template 1005 00:39:03,910 --> 00:39:01,440 copying 1006 00:39:07,030 --> 00:39:03,920 we have this data which shows that the 1007 00:39:09,030 --> 00:39:07,040 monomers can get the theory into the 1008 00:39:11,270 --> 00:39:09,040 inside of the vesicle 1009 00:39:13,750 --> 00:39:11,280 and so we thought maybe we could just 1010 00:39:15,910 --> 00:39:13,760 put it all together 1011 00:39:17,349 --> 00:39:15,920 sorry before i get to that let me just 1012 00:39:19,910 --> 00:39:17,359 tell you how we think things are 1013 00:39:23,270 --> 00:39:19,920 actually getting across the membrane 1014 00:39:25,349 --> 00:39:23,280 so these are uh two earlier 1015 00:39:26,550 --> 00:39:25,359 models it's a classical defaultation 1016 00:39:29,030 --> 00:39:26,560 model where 1017 00:39:31,190 --> 00:39:29,040 to get a small molecule or an ion across 1018 00:39:32,470 --> 00:39:31,200 the membrane you strip off the water of 1019 00:39:33,670 --> 00:39:32,480 solvation 1020 00:39:35,589 --> 00:39:33,680 essentially dissolve it in the 1021 00:39:37,670 --> 00:39:35,599 hydrophobic interior 1022 00:39:39,670 --> 00:39:37,680 and then it exits the other side 1023 00:39:41,270 --> 00:39:39,680 that's just way too energetically 1024 00:39:42,870 --> 00:39:41,280 expensive 1025 00:39:44,870 --> 00:39:42,880 to be plausible 1026 00:39:47,190 --> 00:39:44,880 the rate of this kind of process would 1027 00:39:49,670 --> 00:39:47,200 be vanishingly small 1028 00:39:52,390 --> 00:39:49,680 the other possibility is that 1029 00:39:54,470 --> 00:39:52,400 these membranes make transient force 1030 00:39:56,069 --> 00:39:54,480 that sort of open up and let stuff of 1031 00:39:58,069 --> 00:39:56,079 course 1032 00:39:58,950 --> 00:39:58,079 we know that's not really the case 1033 00:40:02,150 --> 00:39:58,960 because 1034 00:40:04,230 --> 00:40:02,160 if the pores had any significant size at 1035 00:40:07,510 --> 00:40:04,240 least they would let anything across 1036 00:40:09,030 --> 00:40:07,520 equally we wouldn't see specificity just 1037 00:40:11,670 --> 00:40:09,040 such as we see between the different 1038 00:40:14,870 --> 00:40:11,680 sugars or the different nucleotides 1039 00:40:17,349 --> 00:40:14,880 so the model that we favor 1040 00:40:19,510 --> 00:40:17,359 is a kind of hybrid 1041 00:40:21,430 --> 00:40:19,520 transient poor 1042 00:40:23,349 --> 00:40:21,440 model in which 1043 00:40:25,829 --> 00:40:23,359 the solutes 1044 00:40:28,069 --> 00:40:25,839 approach the surface of the membrane 1045 00:40:29,829 --> 00:40:28,079 uh form polar interactions with the head 1046 00:40:32,310 --> 00:40:29,839 groups of the lipids and non-polar 1047 00:40:34,870 --> 00:40:32,320 interactions with the acell chain 1048 00:40:35,990 --> 00:40:34,880 and then there's a converted concerted 1049 00:40:38,630 --> 00:40:36,000 inversion 1050 00:40:39,510 --> 00:40:38,640 of the transient complex to the other 1051 00:40:40,230 --> 00:40:39,520 side 1052 00:40:41,270 --> 00:40:40,240 so 1053 00:40:43,190 --> 00:40:41,280 this 1054 00:40:45,670 --> 00:40:43,200 model involves highly curved 1055 00:40:48,710 --> 00:40:45,680 intermediate uh states 1056 00:40:52,150 --> 00:40:48,720 and and that's supported by 1057 00:40:56,069 --> 00:40:52,160 the fact that more cone-shaped exophiles 1058 00:40:58,550 --> 00:40:56,079 greatly increase permeability 1059 00:41:02,150 --> 00:40:58,560 okay so let's go back imagine this issue 1060 00:41:04,470 --> 00:41:02,160 of the compatibility of template copying 1061 00:41:07,430 --> 00:41:06,470 vesicle structure 1062 00:41:10,150 --> 00:41:07,440 okay 1063 00:41:11,990 --> 00:41:10,160 so here's the experiment that i was 1064 00:41:14,870 --> 00:41:12,000 building up to before 1065 00:41:15,750 --> 00:41:14,880 in this case we prepare vesicles that 1066 00:41:18,790 --> 00:41:15,760 have 1067 00:41:21,190 --> 00:41:18,800 the primer template on the inside 1068 00:41:23,589 --> 00:41:21,200 and we're adding the activated monomer 1069 00:41:25,270 --> 00:41:23,599 to the outside 1070 00:41:27,190 --> 00:41:25,280 okay so here's the chemistry of the 1071 00:41:29,190 --> 00:41:27,200 reaction exactly the same as what you 1072 00:41:30,550 --> 00:41:29,200 saw before 1073 00:41:31,510 --> 00:41:30,560 over 1074 00:41:33,910 --> 00:41:31,520 here 1075 00:41:35,030 --> 00:41:33,920 is the solution control so we see the 1076 00:41:37,750 --> 00:41:35,040 primer 1077 00:41:39,670 --> 00:41:37,760 converting to the plus 15 product over 1078 00:41:42,870 --> 00:41:39,680 the course of about a day 1079 00:41:44,309 --> 00:41:42,880 and then on this side we see exactly the 1080 00:41:46,950 --> 00:41:44,319 same reaction 1081 00:41:48,550 --> 00:41:46,960 going on inside vesicles 1082 00:41:50,550 --> 00:41:48,560 and you can see that it's a little bit 1083 00:41:53,430 --> 00:41:50,560 slower 1084 00:41:55,109 --> 00:41:53,440 it takes a bit longer to accumulate full 1085 00:41:57,750 --> 00:41:55,119 length material but at the end of the 1086 00:42:00,390 --> 00:41:57,760 day we still have mostly 1087 00:42:01,510 --> 00:42:00,400 fully copied templates on the inside 1088 00:42:03,109 --> 00:42:01,520 so the 1089 00:42:05,829 --> 00:42:03,119 slight delay 1090 00:42:08,069 --> 00:42:05,839 reflects the extra time it takes for the 1091 00:42:10,390 --> 00:42:08,079 activated nucleotides to go from outside 1092 00:42:12,710 --> 00:42:10,400 the vesicle across the membrane to the 1093 00:42:15,430 --> 00:42:12,720 inside where they can take part in the 1094 00:42:22,230 --> 00:42:15,440 template copying chemistry 1095 00:42:26,790 --> 00:42:25,589 so this is a big step forward to showing 1096 00:42:30,390 --> 00:42:26,800 that 1097 00:42:32,309 --> 00:42:30,400 at the beginning 1098 00:42:33,910 --> 00:42:32,319 is at least reasonable in the sense that 1099 00:42:35,990 --> 00:42:33,920 we can add 1100 00:42:38,790 --> 00:42:36,000 activated building blocks to the outside 1101 00:42:41,270 --> 00:42:38,800 and see copying of genetic materials on 1102 00:42:44,710 --> 00:42:41,280 the inside 1103 00:42:46,550 --> 00:42:44,720 in this particular exam the membranes 1104 00:42:48,550 --> 00:42:46,560 are 1105 00:42:50,790 --> 00:42:48,560 one of our favorite models which is a 1106 00:42:52,870 --> 00:42:50,800 c14 unsaturated 1107 00:42:54,950 --> 00:42:52,880 fatty acid 1108 00:42:56,950 --> 00:42:54,960 in this experiment 1109 00:42:58,390 --> 00:42:56,960 we see a more 1110 00:42:59,990 --> 00:42:58,400 prebiotic 1111 00:43:01,270 --> 00:43:00,000 photographer files again they're 1112 00:43:03,510 --> 00:43:01,280 saturated 1113 00:43:05,750 --> 00:43:03,520 10 carbon chains 1114 00:43:07,990 --> 00:43:05,760 very similar 1115 00:43:10,550 --> 00:43:08,000 time course and at the end of the day we 1116 00:43:13,109 --> 00:43:10,560 have mostly full length copied templates 1117 00:43:16,230 --> 00:43:13,119 inside these vesicles 1118 00:43:19,589 --> 00:43:16,240 and then finally here is 1119 00:43:23,270 --> 00:43:19,599 the same kind of experiment except using 1120 00:43:25,109 --> 00:43:23,280 vesicles made of modern photolipids 1121 00:43:28,710 --> 00:43:25,119 and in this case the nucleotides can't 1122 00:43:31,030 --> 00:43:28,720 get across and you see absolutely no 1123 00:43:33,109 --> 00:43:31,040 copying of the 1124 00:43:35,190 --> 00:43:33,119 internal template so the primer does not 1125 00:43:36,710 --> 00:43:35,200 get elongated at all 1126 00:43:38,870 --> 00:43:36,720 so 1127 00:43:42,150 --> 00:43:38,880 in order for these systems to be 1128 00:43:44,390 --> 00:43:42,160 compatible you you really do have to use 1129 00:43:48,630 --> 00:43:44,400 the right building blocks to make the 1130 00:43:51,349 --> 00:43:50,069 okay 1131 00:43:55,589 --> 00:43:51,359 all right so 1132 00:43:57,589 --> 00:43:55,599 so we can do a template copier 1133 00:43:59,190 --> 00:43:57,599 if you just had efficient copying 1134 00:44:02,870 --> 00:43:59,200 chemistry and 1135 00:44:04,710 --> 00:44:02,880 and ended up with a full length duplex 1136 00:44:07,109 --> 00:44:04,720 that would be a dead end unless there 1137 00:44:09,109 --> 00:44:07,119 was a way to get the strands apart 1138 00:44:11,270 --> 00:44:09,119 so that the separated strands could be 1139 00:44:14,150 --> 00:44:11,280 copied again 1140 00:44:16,630 --> 00:44:14,160 the obvious way to do that is by thermal 1141 00:44:18,470 --> 00:44:16,640 cycling just like we do for pcr 1142 00:44:20,550 --> 00:44:18,480 reactions 1143 00:44:22,550 --> 00:44:20,560 again for years we were kind of afraid 1144 00:44:24,550 --> 00:44:22,560 to do that experiment 1145 00:44:27,190 --> 00:44:24,560 because we thought that if we 1146 00:44:29,430 --> 00:44:27,200 heated our delicate fatty acid vesicles 1147 00:44:31,910 --> 00:44:29,440 up to 95 degrees they would just fall 1148 00:44:34,630 --> 00:44:31,920 apart and everything would leak out and 1149 00:44:35,349 --> 00:44:34,640 the experiment would be over 1150 00:44:38,309 --> 00:44:35,359 so 1151 00:44:41,430 --> 00:44:38,319 uh it wasn't until sharifambi actually 1152 00:44:44,390 --> 00:44:41,440 did the experiments uh that we realized 1153 00:44:45,430 --> 00:44:44,400 uh things weren't so bad after all so 1154 00:44:47,670 --> 00:44:45,440 here 1155 00:44:48,710 --> 00:44:47,680 in this experiment what sharif did 1156 00:44:51,670 --> 00:44:48,720 was to 1157 00:44:53,430 --> 00:44:51,680 make vesicles with an encapsulated 1158 00:44:55,910 --> 00:44:53,440 fragment of dna 1159 00:44:58,390 --> 00:44:55,920 and just monitor the rate at which it 1160 00:45:01,270 --> 00:44:58,400 looks out 1161 00:45:04,150 --> 00:45:01,280 over time so in this case he heated the 1162 00:45:05,750 --> 00:45:04,160 vesicles for an hour at the indicated 1163 00:45:08,230 --> 00:45:05,760 temperature 1164 00:45:10,550 --> 00:45:08,240 and so you see the plane fatty acid 1165 00:45:11,910 --> 00:45:10,560 vesicles start to leak at around 60 or 1166 00:45:13,670 --> 00:45:11,920 70 degrees 1167 00:45:15,910 --> 00:45:13,680 and kind of fall apart 1168 00:45:17,829 --> 00:45:15,920 between 80 and 90. 1169 00:45:20,309 --> 00:45:17,839 if you mix in a little of the 1170 00:45:22,630 --> 00:45:20,319 corresponding fatty alcohol 1171 00:45:24,710 --> 00:45:22,640 the vesicles get more stable 1172 00:45:27,270 --> 00:45:24,720 they don't really start to fall apart 1173 00:45:29,750 --> 00:45:27,280 until between 90 and 100. 1174 00:45:31,589 --> 00:45:29,760 if you mix in some of the glycerol after 1175 00:45:33,510 --> 00:45:31,599 of the fatty acid 1176 00:45:34,630 --> 00:45:33,520 it's amazing i mean you can take these 1177 00:45:37,190 --> 00:45:34,640 vesicles 1178 00:45:40,550 --> 00:45:37,200 and boil them for an hour and none of 1179 00:45:42,870 --> 00:45:40,560 the dna leaks out at all 1180 00:45:45,270 --> 00:45:42,880 even these less stable vesicles you can 1181 00:45:47,430 --> 00:45:45,280 do normal pcr type service cycling where 1182 00:45:50,550 --> 00:45:47,440 you just heat up for a minute or so and 1183 00:45:52,550 --> 00:45:50,560 nothing leaks out under those conditions 1184 00:45:54,390 --> 00:45:52,560 pretty much the same thing is true with 1185 00:45:55,990 --> 00:45:54,400 the shorter chain 1186 00:45:58,470 --> 00:45:56,000 saturated 1187 00:46:00,710 --> 00:45:58,480 fatty acid mixtures 1188 00:46:02,390 --> 00:46:00,720 fatty investigates by themselves are 1189 00:46:04,230 --> 00:46:02,400 unstable 1190 00:46:05,349 --> 00:46:04,240 they become more stable when you add the 1191 00:46:06,950 --> 00:46:05,359 alcohol 1192 00:46:08,790 --> 00:46:06,960 and much more stable when you add the 1193 00:46:10,710 --> 00:46:08,800 glycerol out there so 1194 00:46:11,829 --> 00:46:10,720 interestingly these more complicated 1195 00:46:14,950 --> 00:46:11,839 mixtures 1196 00:46:17,190 --> 00:46:14,960 uh always seem to work better 1197 00:46:19,349 --> 00:46:17,200 they're not as stable 1198 00:46:21,430 --> 00:46:19,359 as the previous said 1199 00:46:23,910 --> 00:46:21,440 but and this isn't heating at an hour 1200 00:46:25,829 --> 00:46:23,920 and monitoring leakage of a dna fragment 1201 00:46:27,670 --> 00:46:25,839 but they're perfectly fine when heated 1202 00:46:30,870 --> 00:46:27,680 up for a minute or two 1203 00:46:31,670 --> 00:46:30,880 to 95 degrees nothing leaks out 1204 00:46:33,670 --> 00:46:31,680 so 1205 00:46:35,109 --> 00:46:33,680 those experiments 1206 00:46:37,430 --> 00:46:35,119 imply 1207 00:46:40,309 --> 00:46:37,440 that an encapsulated 1208 00:46:42,710 --> 00:46:40,319 nucleic acid duplex could be heated up 1209 00:46:44,069 --> 00:46:42,720 it could have the strands come apart 1210 00:46:46,150 --> 00:46:44,079 cool down 1211 00:46:48,309 --> 00:46:46,160 and then have template copying chemistry 1212 00:46:50,230 --> 00:46:48,319 go on at the lower temperature 1213 00:46:52,309 --> 00:46:50,240 so we wanted to be sure 1214 00:46:54,309 --> 00:46:52,319 that that that this strand separation 1215 00:46:56,710 --> 00:46:54,319 would actually take place 1216 00:46:58,230 --> 00:46:56,720 and so the way that sharif tested that 1217 00:47:01,670 --> 00:46:58,240 is shown here 1218 00:47:05,589 --> 00:47:01,680 he encapsulated a short dna duplex 1219 00:47:08,790 --> 00:47:05,599 in which a small fraction of the 1220 00:47:13,030 --> 00:47:08,800 dna duplexes were labeled on each strand 1221 00:47:14,309 --> 00:47:13,040 with a donor and a quencher fluorophore 1222 00:47:17,430 --> 00:47:14,319 so 1223 00:47:19,990 --> 00:47:17,440 quenched at the beginning of the 1224 00:47:22,390 --> 00:47:20,000 experiment because every donor has a 1225 00:47:23,670 --> 00:47:22,400 nearby pressure most of the molecules 1226 00:47:25,270 --> 00:47:23,680 are not labeled 1227 00:47:26,950 --> 00:47:25,280 when you heat them up 1228 00:47:29,510 --> 00:47:26,960 the strands come apart 1229 00:47:31,750 --> 00:47:29,520 everything floats around separately 1230 00:47:34,630 --> 00:47:31,760 when they're cooled down the strands 1231 00:47:37,430 --> 00:47:34,640 gradually re-anneal but now the donor 1232 00:47:39,430 --> 00:47:37,440 and cruncher are usually separated that 1233 00:47:40,790 --> 00:47:39,440 results in an increase in fluorescence 1234 00:47:43,670 --> 00:47:40,800 intensity 1235 00:47:46,150 --> 00:47:43,680 and that's exactly what he saw 1236 00:47:48,390 --> 00:47:46,160 its data correspond to 1237 00:47:49,990 --> 00:47:48,400 complete separation and randomization of 1238 00:47:53,190 --> 00:47:50,000 the strands 1239 00:47:55,670 --> 00:47:53,200 okay so the thermocycling inside these 1240 00:47:58,069 --> 00:47:55,680 uh very simple primitive vesicles looks 1241 00:48:01,030 --> 00:47:58,079 quite uh plausible 1242 00:48:02,790 --> 00:48:01,040 as an added bonus it turns out 1243 00:48:04,069 --> 00:48:02,800 that the membranes become much more 1244 00:48:06,309 --> 00:48:04,079 permeable 1245 00:48:08,069 --> 00:48:06,319 to polar molecules like nucleotides at 1246 00:48:09,750 --> 00:48:08,079 these high temperatures 1247 00:48:12,069 --> 00:48:09,760 and so 1248 00:48:14,550 --> 00:48:12,079 what at room temperature 1249 00:48:18,309 --> 00:48:14,560 took hours to a day 1250 00:48:20,390 --> 00:48:18,319 uh occurs in a few minutes at 90 degrees 1251 00:48:21,589 --> 00:48:20,400 so if we have a 1252 00:48:24,309 --> 00:48:21,599 short 1253 00:48:26,710 --> 00:48:24,319 temperature exclusion uh go up to say 90 1254 00:48:29,670 --> 00:48:26,720 degrees the strands come apart uh 1255 00:48:32,710 --> 00:48:29,680 nucleotides from outside can rapidly 1256 00:48:35,589 --> 00:48:32,720 enter uh in the course of a few minutes 1257 00:48:37,670 --> 00:48:35,599 and then as the temperature goes down 1258 00:48:40,950 --> 00:48:37,680 the membrane seals up and template 1259 00:48:43,190 --> 00:48:40,960 copying chemistry could happen so we can 1260 00:48:45,829 --> 00:48:43,200 start to imagine a very 1261 00:48:49,589 --> 00:48:45,839 simple environmentally driven 1262 00:48:53,109 --> 00:48:49,599 cell cycle if you will that is driven by 1263 00:48:55,510 --> 00:48:53,119 uh by fluctuations in the supply of 1264 00:49:00,390 --> 00:48:55,520 cooling blocks for the for the membrane 1265 00:49:06,870 --> 00:49:02,950 okay so just to uh 1266 00:49:09,030 --> 00:49:06,880 summarize go over the main uh points 1267 00:49:11,030 --> 00:49:09,040 uh what we what we found in the course 1268 00:49:13,349 --> 00:49:11,040 of doing these experiments 1269 00:49:14,630 --> 00:49:13,359 is that we actually have uh multiple 1270 00:49:16,870 --> 00:49:14,640 pathways 1271 00:49:19,349 --> 00:49:16,880 for vesicle growth and division 1272 00:49:21,270 --> 00:49:19,359 i've only described one pathway for each 1273 00:49:23,670 --> 00:49:21,280 today but 1274 00:49:25,589 --> 00:49:23,680 turns out they're actually very robust 1275 00:49:27,190 --> 00:49:25,599 in the sense that there are 1276 00:49:29,510 --> 00:49:27,200 there are multiple ways in which close 1277 00:49:31,990 --> 00:49:29,520 growth and division can happen 1278 00:49:33,670 --> 00:49:32,000 we know that nucleotides can get into 1279 00:49:38,390 --> 00:49:33,680 vesicles 1280 00:49:40,549 --> 00:49:38,400 enough for strand separation 1281 00:49:41,990 --> 00:49:40,559 the chemistry of template copying is 1282 00:49:43,829 --> 00:49:42,000 compatible with 1283 00:49:45,270 --> 00:49:43,839 the existence and integrity of the 1284 00:49:46,069 --> 00:49:45,280 vesicles 1285 00:49:46,950 --> 00:49:46,079 and 1286 00:49:49,750 --> 00:49:46,960 uh 1287 00:49:52,069 --> 00:49:49,760 it's early days but we think that the 1288 00:49:54,230 --> 00:49:52,079 chemical approach to 1289 00:49:55,430 --> 00:49:54,240 copying nucleic acid 1290 00:49:56,829 --> 00:49:55,440 sequences 1291 00:49:58,790 --> 00:49:56,839 looks quite 1292 00:50:01,510 --> 00:49:58,800 promising and 1293 00:50:04,390 --> 00:50:01,520 therefore this bypasses the need to get 1294 00:50:07,589 --> 00:50:04,400 started with a complicated uh dry design 1295 00:50:11,829 --> 00:50:09,910 okay so um 1296 00:50:14,309 --> 00:50:11,839 what if all this is really relevant to 1297 00:50:15,990 --> 00:50:14,319 the origin of life and to me i think the 1298 00:50:18,470 --> 00:50:16,000 most 1299 00:50:20,470 --> 00:50:18,480 general and important lesson is that as 1300 00:50:23,670 --> 00:50:20,480 we do we and others do these kinds of 1301 00:50:27,030 --> 00:50:23,680 experiments we're continuously 1302 00:50:29,829 --> 00:50:27,040 coming across very surprising unexpected 1303 00:50:32,309 --> 00:50:29,839 physical chemical phenomena that might 1304 00:50:35,829 --> 00:50:32,319 have played an important role 1305 00:50:36,870 --> 00:50:35,839 and um so the ones i mentioned are shown 1306 00:50:39,190 --> 00:50:36,880 here this 1307 00:50:41,349 --> 00:50:39,200 selective membrane permeability that 1308 00:50:44,790 --> 00:50:41,359 favors ribose 1309 00:50:47,670 --> 00:50:44,800 the unexpected thermal stability of 1310 00:50:50,230 --> 00:50:47,680 fatty acid membranes 1311 00:50:52,309 --> 00:50:50,240 the unexpected permeability for example 1312 00:50:55,910 --> 00:50:52,319 a few other things i didn't have time to 1313 00:50:57,750 --> 00:50:55,920 talk about or earlier work by uh 1314 00:50:59,990 --> 00:50:57,760 well i didn't mention jim ferriss's work 1315 00:51:01,270 --> 00:51:00,000 but also worked by uh 1316 00:51:03,109 --> 00:51:01,280 pierre elaine 1317 00:51:03,990 --> 00:51:03,119 on showing that 1318 00:51:07,910 --> 00:51:04,000 you can 1319 00:51:10,950 --> 00:51:07,920 get rna polymerization catalyzed by 1320 00:51:13,349 --> 00:51:10,960 by freezing monomer solutions 1321 00:51:14,790 --> 00:51:13,359 uh there are new ways of concentrating 1322 00:51:18,950 --> 00:51:14,800 dilute 1323 00:51:20,470 --> 00:51:18,960 chemicals that are quite interesting 1324 00:51:24,950 --> 00:51:20,480 and so on there's just 1325 00:51:27,750 --> 00:51:24,960 many many uh unexpected but very simple 1326 00:51:29,670 --> 00:51:27,760 chemical and physical phenomena 1327 00:51:31,670 --> 00:51:29,680 that i think could be very relevant to 1328 00:51:33,589 --> 00:51:31,680 our understanding of the origin of life 1329 00:51:36,390 --> 00:51:33,599 and we're not going to find these 1330 00:51:39,190 --> 00:51:36,400 unless people who do these kinds of 1331 00:51:41,829 --> 00:51:39,200 synthetic experiments 1332 00:51:42,630 --> 00:51:41,839 and so finally i just sort of mentioned 1333 00:51:44,950 --> 00:51:42,640 uh 1334 00:51:47,349 --> 00:51:44,960 again the people that did all this work 1335 00:51:49,990 --> 00:51:47,359 all of this was done by a lot of really 1336 00:51:51,750 --> 00:51:50,000 brilliant graduate students and postdocs 1337 00:51:52,950 --> 00:51:51,760 i've tried to mention many of them as i 1338 00:51:55,990 --> 00:51:52,960 went along 1339 00:51:58,790 --> 00:51:56,000 um a lot of the more recent work on vets 1340 00:52:00,710 --> 00:51:58,800 goals has been done by ting tsu 1341 00:52:01,589 --> 00:52:00,720 and the nucleic acid work by jason 1342 00:52:05,670 --> 00:52:01,599 schrum 1343 00:52:07,670 --> 00:52:05,680 jesse chen alonso ricardo 1344 00:52:09,750 --> 00:52:07,680 cherise manzi did a lot of the 1345 00:52:11,270 --> 00:52:09,760 permeability in term of stability 1346 00:52:12,470 --> 00:52:11,280 experiments 1347 00:52:17,990 --> 00:52:12,480 and 1348 00:52:25,430 --> 00:52:19,670 thank you very much let's all thank our 1349 00:52:28,630 --> 00:52:27,190 thank you very much for a great talk i 1350 00:52:31,510 --> 00:52:28,640 would encourage everybody to go to 1351 00:52:34,150 --> 00:52:31,520 jack's website because jack has posted a 1352 00:52:36,630 --> 00:52:34,160 number of movies that illustrate 1353 00:52:38,790 --> 00:52:36,640 some of those processes and particularly 1354 00:52:41,109 --> 00:52:38,800 the processes by which my cells can 1355 00:52:44,470 --> 00:52:41,119 merge and and form vesicles and also the 1356 00:52:47,030 --> 00:52:44,480 transport across the uh the membrane and 1357 00:52:49,270 --> 00:52:47,040 i think you'd find that very interesting 1358 00:52:51,990 --> 00:52:49,280 i'd like to ask the uh 1359 00:52:54,150 --> 00:52:52,000 the first question and i would like to 1360 00:52:56,549 --> 00:52:54,160 ask everybody else to raise your hand on 1361 00:52:58,790 --> 00:52:56,559 webex and then we'll call on you 1362 00:53:00,870 --> 00:52:58,800 to ask jack questions but just before i 1363 00:53:03,430 --> 00:53:00,880 do i'd just like to announce that the 1364 00:53:05,990 --> 00:53:03,440 next nai director seminar is going to be 1365 00:53:08,870 --> 00:53:06,000 in just three weeks from now on november 1366 00:53:11,670 --> 00:53:08,880 24th and it'll be roger summons talking 1367 00:53:15,030 --> 00:53:11,680 about the mother of all extinctions the 1368 00:53:17,510 --> 00:53:15,040 permian triassic extinction and 1369 00:53:18,470 --> 00:53:17,520 his work on the mechanisms that caused 1370 00:53:20,549 --> 00:53:18,480 that 1371 00:53:22,870 --> 00:53:20,559 so jack the question i'd like to ask you 1372 00:53:25,349 --> 00:53:22,880 is what are your future directions and 1373 00:53:28,150 --> 00:53:25,359 where do you think 1374 00:53:32,950 --> 00:53:28,160 you will be on this line of work let us 1375 00:53:38,150 --> 00:53:36,309 uh well a lot of our work now is focused 1376 00:53:40,390 --> 00:53:38,160 on the chemistry of nucleic acid 1377 00:53:43,270 --> 00:53:40,400 replication so 1378 00:53:45,349 --> 00:53:43,280 um that's the big push 1379 00:53:46,630 --> 00:53:45,359 i'm reasonably optimistic that we'll 1380 00:53:48,549 --> 00:53:46,640 find 1381 00:53:50,950 --> 00:53:48,559 um 1382 00:53:52,150 --> 00:53:50,960 a system that lets us 1383 00:53:54,390 --> 00:53:52,160 do 1384 00:53:56,790 --> 00:53:54,400 replication well enough that we can 1385 00:53:59,510 --> 00:53:56,800 combine it 1386 00:54:01,349 --> 00:53:59,520 with a replicating vesicle system and 1387 00:54:04,549 --> 00:54:01,359 what we really want to be seeing is the 1388 00:54:06,150 --> 00:54:04,559 emergence of the spontaneous emergence 1389 00:54:08,549 --> 00:54:06,160 of sequences that 1390 00:54:10,950 --> 00:54:08,559 contribute that are selected 1391 00:54:12,710 --> 00:54:10,960 whether we'll be there in five years or 1392 00:54:13,910 --> 00:54:12,720 not is a little bit hard to say of 1393 00:54:15,990 --> 00:54:13,920 course 1394 00:54:18,230 --> 00:54:16,000 uh there is one new direction that we've 1395 00:54:21,430 --> 00:54:18,240 been having a lot of fun thinking about 1396 00:54:25,349 --> 00:54:23,510 just knowing what we know from these 1397 00:54:28,470 --> 00:54:25,359 experiments can we actually start to 1398 00:54:34,230 --> 00:54:31,109 primitive living systems that would be 1399 00:54:37,510 --> 00:54:34,240 chemically very different 1400 00:54:43,270 --> 00:54:40,390 things that would uh would live in a 1401 00:54:45,030 --> 00:54:43,280 solvent other than water 1402 00:54:47,270 --> 00:54:45,040 and 1403 00:54:51,030 --> 00:54:47,280 it's a really interesting exercise it 1404 00:54:56,230 --> 00:54:53,910 the qualities of dna and and and the 1405 00:55:00,069 --> 00:54:56,240 forces that go into 1406 00:55:02,950 --> 00:55:00,079 uh membrane behavior and and uh and 1407 00:55:06,549 --> 00:55:02,960 nucleic acid duplex behavior so it's an 1408 00:55:08,390 --> 00:55:06,559 interesting exercise anyway 1409 00:55:12,950 --> 00:55:08,400 thank you jack marco do we have hands 1410 00:55:16,790 --> 00:55:14,790 i wonder why you thought the clay 1411 00:55:18,790 --> 00:55:16,800 catalyzed the formation of the micelles 1412 00:55:22,230 --> 00:55:18,800 was it the ph of the clay itself that 1413 00:55:28,309 --> 00:55:26,069 we think it is that the clay 1414 00:55:31,109 --> 00:55:28,319 works because of its surface charge so 1415 00:55:33,510 --> 00:55:31,119 it's not something that's very specific 1416 00:55:35,910 --> 00:55:33,520 to that clay in fact 1417 00:55:38,710 --> 00:55:35,920 almost any mineral surface that has a 1418 00:55:40,950 --> 00:55:38,720 negative surface charge will work 1419 00:55:43,510 --> 00:55:40,960 and so we think that because of the 1420 00:55:44,470 --> 00:55:43,520 electrical double layer at the surface 1421 00:55:46,309 --> 00:55:44,480 there's 1422 00:55:48,470 --> 00:55:46,319 such an electrostatic effect that 1423 00:55:50,789 --> 00:55:48,480 concentrates myself 1424 00:55:52,230 --> 00:55:50,799 uh close to the surface making it easier 1425 00:55:54,150 --> 00:55:52,240 for them to 1426 00:55:56,470 --> 00:55:54,160 start to interact with each other 1427 00:55:58,309 --> 00:55:56,480 it's really just a 1428 00:55:59,750 --> 00:55:58,319 kind of hand waving model at this point 1429 00:56:00,470 --> 00:55:59,760 so that's that's what we think are going 1430 00:56:03,430 --> 00:56:00,480 on 1431 00:56:11,190 --> 00:56:03,440 okay thanks 1432 00:56:14,630 --> 00:56:12,710 hi can you hear me this is neither 1433 00:56:18,390 --> 00:56:14,640 sahara at wisconsin 1434 00:56:20,069 --> 00:56:18,400 yes um hi um i have a question about 1435 00:56:21,589 --> 00:56:20,079 what you might think be the role of 1436 00:56:23,109 --> 00:56:21,599 magnesium 1437 00:56:25,990 --> 00:56:23,119 uh in your 1438 00:56:28,069 --> 00:56:26,000 nucleic acid polymerization reactions as 1439 00:56:29,750 --> 00:56:28,079 well as for the overall permeability of 1440 00:56:31,510 --> 00:56:29,760 your 1441 00:56:33,109 --> 00:56:31,520 membrane being that they're negatively 1442 00:56:35,270 --> 00:56:33,119 charged is also an electric double layer 1443 00:56:37,589 --> 00:56:35,280 associated with the outside of the 1444 00:56:39,750 --> 00:56:37,599 membrane and that might have been 1445 00:56:42,230 --> 00:56:39,760 probably higher magnesium in seawater as 1446 00:56:44,950 --> 00:56:42,240 well as plenty of sodium 1447 00:56:46,950 --> 00:56:44,960 than one has no 1448 00:56:49,829 --> 00:56:46,960 you see what i'm getting at with this 1449 00:56:53,349 --> 00:56:49,839 question yeah yeah yeah so uh so a word 1450 00:56:54,870 --> 00:56:53,359 from dave diemer's lab uh 1451 00:56:58,309 --> 00:56:54,880 showed that 1452 00:57:00,950 --> 00:56:58,319 these fatty acid-base membranes really 1453 00:57:03,109 --> 00:57:00,960 don't tolerate very high concentrations 1454 00:57:05,430 --> 00:57:03,119 of magnesium 1455 00:57:06,470 --> 00:57:05,440 so i i think these kinds of membranes 1456 00:57:08,630 --> 00:57:06,480 would not 1457 00:57:11,670 --> 00:57:08,640 work in seawater 1458 00:57:15,430 --> 00:57:11,680 i think there has to be a more deadly is 1459 00:57:16,630 --> 00:57:15,440 more of a freshwater type of system 1460 00:57:18,789 --> 00:57:16,640 with the right mixtures of 1461 00:57:21,670 --> 00:57:18,799 anthropophiles you can tolerate 1462 00:57:24,309 --> 00:57:21,680 up to say four millimolar magnesium 1463 00:57:26,230 --> 00:57:24,319 uh so that for a long time seemed like a 1464 00:57:28,150 --> 00:57:26,240 big problem when we were stuck thinking 1465 00:57:30,309 --> 00:57:28,160 about getting started 1466 00:57:31,430 --> 00:57:30,319 with ribosomes because when we try to 1467 00:57:33,510 --> 00:57:31,440 select 1468 00:57:35,910 --> 00:57:33,520 new ribosomes that do for example 1469 00:57:38,630 --> 00:57:35,920 polymerization 1470 00:57:39,430 --> 00:57:38,640 chemistry they tend to require very very 1471 00:57:41,670 --> 00:57:39,440 high 1472 00:57:43,109 --> 00:57:41,680 concentrations of divalent cations like 1473 00:57:45,190 --> 00:57:43,119 magnesium 1474 00:57:46,870 --> 00:57:45,200 which would not be compatible with the 1475 00:57:49,510 --> 00:57:46,880 structure of the membrane 1476 00:57:51,990 --> 00:57:49,520 when we go to these uh phosphoramine 1477 00:57:53,190 --> 00:57:52,000 polymers and the amino sugars 1478 00:57:55,829 --> 00:57:53,200 it turns out 1479 00:57:58,789 --> 00:57:55,839 that chemistry is completely independent 1480 00:57:59,990 --> 00:57:58,799 of diagnostics so we can actually do 1481 00:58:03,430 --> 00:58:00,000 everything 1482 00:58:05,190 --> 00:58:03,440 uh in an environment that 1483 00:58:06,789 --> 00:58:05,200 contains a certain amount of salt and 1484 00:58:16,870 --> 00:58:06,799 some buffers but 1485 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:20,870 we have a question at uw 1486 00:58:25,109 --> 00:58:23,190 yeah uh my question is have you looked 1487 00:58:26,630 --> 00:58:25,119 at any chemical controls on the size of 1488 00:58:28,630 --> 00:58:26,640 these vesicles and whether or not it 1489 00:58:30,950 --> 00:58:28,640 would be possible to have a chemical 1490 00:58:32,470 --> 00:58:30,960 mechanism for division as opposed to a 1491 00:58:33,589 --> 00:58:32,480 physical one or is it something where 1492 00:58:37,990 --> 00:58:33,599 you actually need the physical 1493 00:58:45,109 --> 00:58:41,589 we've been looking at different athletes 1494 00:58:50,950 --> 00:58:47,990 mostly i guess looking at 1495 00:58:53,190 --> 00:58:50,960 simple environmental ways uh in which 1496 00:58:55,510 --> 00:58:53,200 you know environmental punctuation 1497 00:58:57,589 --> 00:58:55,520 i think they're much more plausible ways 1498 00:58:59,030 --> 00:58:57,599 of doing it than this extrusion through 1499 00:59:00,789 --> 00:58:59,040 small force that's really just a 1500 00:59:02,549 --> 00:59:00,799 laboratory model 1501 00:59:04,390 --> 00:59:02,559 but in more recent experiments that 1502 00:59:06,390 --> 00:59:04,400 aren't published yet we can 1503 00:59:09,109 --> 00:59:06,400 we have systems where larger vesicles 1504 00:59:11,430 --> 00:59:09,119 divide very easily 1505 00:59:12,950 --> 00:59:11,440 just with gentle shear forces 1506 00:59:15,670 --> 00:59:12,960 now 1507 00:59:18,230 --> 00:59:15,680 there's an interesting possibility for a 1508 00:59:19,349 --> 00:59:18,240 more chemically mediated 1509 00:59:21,990 --> 00:59:19,359 division 1510 00:59:24,470 --> 00:59:22,000 based on the phase separation of lipids 1511 00:59:26,549 --> 00:59:24,480 in the bilayer so if you make domains if 1512 00:59:28,870 --> 00:59:26,559 you say separate so there are domains 1513 00:59:30,710 --> 00:59:28,880 with different lipid compositions then 1514 00:59:33,190 --> 00:59:30,720 there's a high energy 1515 00:59:35,270 --> 00:59:33,200 boundary between those domains and 1516 00:59:36,470 --> 00:59:35,280 minimization of that line tension can 1517 00:59:37,990 --> 00:59:36,480 actually 1518 00:59:41,750 --> 00:59:38,000 drive division 1519 00:59:44,069 --> 00:59:41,760 and that's been seen in in phospholipids 1520 00:59:47,510 --> 00:59:44,079 single lipid cholesterol mixtures which 1521 00:59:49,589 --> 00:59:47,520 haven't been able uh to 1522 00:59:51,430 --> 00:59:49,599 make a system that works that way with 1523 00:59:53,589 --> 00:59:51,440 single-chain anti-files 1524 00:59:55,670 --> 00:59:53,599 yes but i think that would be a really 1525 00:59:57,589 --> 00:59:55,680 cool way of doing it i think it's still 1526 01:00:00,069 --> 00:59:57,599 worth looking into and there may of 1527 01:00:06,549 --> 01:00:00,079 course be many other other ways of 1528 01:00:06,559 --> 01:00:10,309 okay is there another question that aims 1529 01:00:14,950 --> 01:00:13,109 yeah hi jack this is david um i was just 1530 01:00:16,470 --> 01:00:14,960 thinking about ph when you were talking 1531 01:00:18,150 --> 01:00:16,480 about your experiments and of course at 1532 01:00:20,150 --> 01:00:18,160 some point the ph difference may have 1533 01:00:20,870 --> 01:00:20,160 something to do with energy harvesting 1534 01:00:23,190 --> 01:00:20,880 but 1535 01:00:24,549 --> 01:00:23,200 are there any considerations about pa ph 1536 01:00:35,270 --> 01:00:24,559 in your experiments 1537 01:00:40,549 --> 01:00:38,789 we supply a new material new fatty acids 1538 01:00:42,789 --> 01:00:40,559 as an alkaline 1539 01:00:46,390 --> 01:00:42,799 solution that goes into a buffered 1540 01:00:48,549 --> 01:00:46,400 suspension of ethical and then 1541 01:00:50,789 --> 01:00:48,559 the my cells that we're the stable phase 1542 01:00:52,470 --> 01:00:50,799 of high ph now are a thermodynamically 1543 01:00:54,630 --> 01:00:52,480 unstable phase so 1544 01:00:57,270 --> 01:00:54,640 so it's energetically downhill for those 1545 01:00:58,470 --> 01:00:57,280 molecules to now transfer into the 1546 01:00:59,990 --> 01:00:58,480 bilayer 1547 01:01:02,150 --> 01:01:00,000 phase 1548 01:01:02,950 --> 01:01:02,160 so so that's one aspect of it the other 1549 01:01:04,789 --> 01:01:02,960 is 1550 01:01:07,190 --> 01:01:04,799 i didn't have time to go into it but 1551 01:01:08,950 --> 01:01:07,200 under certain conditions 1552 01:01:11,589 --> 01:01:08,960 during growth 1553 01:01:13,349 --> 01:01:11,599 you actually drive the formation of ph 1554 01:01:15,349 --> 01:01:13,359 and ion gradient 1555 01:01:17,349 --> 01:01:15,359 and that's because 1556 01:01:19,670 --> 01:01:17,359 uh new modules 1557 01:01:21,030 --> 01:01:19,680 come in first to the outer leaflet of 1558 01:01:22,950 --> 01:01:21,040 the bilayer 1559 01:01:26,390 --> 01:01:22,960 but then they have to flip-flop to the 1560 01:01:28,950 --> 01:01:26,400 inside and it's generally the 1561 01:01:30,470 --> 01:01:28,960 protonated neutral uh form of the fatty 1562 01:01:33,270 --> 01:01:30,480 acid will do that many orders of 1563 01:01:34,950 --> 01:01:33,280 magnitude faster than the ionized form 1564 01:01:37,030 --> 01:01:34,960 and then it'll re-equilibrate on the 1565 01:01:39,030 --> 01:01:37,040 inside so as you grow 1566 01:01:40,710 --> 01:01:39,040 you're essentially pumping protons into 1567 01:01:41,829 --> 01:01:40,720 the interior 1568 01:01:43,990 --> 01:01:41,839 now 1569 01:01:47,270 --> 01:01:44,000 so that results in a ph gradient which 1570 01:01:49,030 --> 01:01:47,280 could be used uh to perhaps 1571 01:01:51,030 --> 01:01:49,040 that some of that energy 1572 01:01:55,670 --> 01:01:51,040 could be tapped to do something useful 1573 01:01:57,750 --> 01:01:55,680 for example take up an amine substrate 1574 01:02:00,549 --> 01:01:57,760 it's a little tricky because ph 1575 01:02:02,710 --> 01:02:00,559 gradients decay very rapidly if there 1576 01:02:04,150 --> 01:02:02,720 are free fatty acids around 1577 01:02:05,910 --> 01:02:04,160 but maybe some 1578 01:02:07,910 --> 01:02:05,920 slightly more advanced membrane 1579 01:02:10,069 --> 01:02:07,920 composition with uh for example 1580 01:02:11,990 --> 01:02:10,079 phosphorylated 1581 01:02:14,789 --> 01:02:12,000 monomers 1582 01:02:16,630 --> 01:02:14,799 those retain a ph gradient for longer 1583 01:02:17,670 --> 01:02:16,640 and might allow that 1584 01:02:24,390 --> 01:02:17,680 that 1585 01:02:24,400 --> 01:02:34,309 okay are there any other questions 1586 01:02:37,910 --> 01:02:36,069 okay if there are no other questions 1587 01:02:45,109 --> 01:02:37,920 let's thank our speaker again jack that 1588 01:02:50,549 --> 01:02:47,910 uh jack's seminar will be up on our 1589 01:02:52,309 --> 01:02:50,559 website the podcast usually is up within 1590 01:02:54,230 --> 01:02:52,319 about three or four days so by the end 1591 01:02:56,230 --> 01:02:54,240 of this week or early next week if you'd 1592 01:02:58,870 --> 01:02:56,240 like to hear his seminar again you can 1593 01:03:00,789 --> 01:02:58,880 do so and if you'd like to recommend a 1594 01:03:02,950 --> 01:03:00,799 seminar to anybody who missed it this 1595 01:03:04,950 --> 01:03:02,960 time they'll be able to see it in its 1596 01:03:07,109 --> 01:03:04,960 entirety and i encourage you to also go 1597 01:03:09,750 --> 01:03:07,119 back and take a look at the archives of 1598 01:03:12,150 --> 01:03:09,760 all the past seminars we've had a great 1599 01:03:15,029 --> 01:03:12,160 run of speakers earlier this year and 1600 01:03:17,349 --> 01:03:15,039 last year norm sleep was started us off 1601 01:03:18,950 --> 01:03:17,359 this year so just go to the website take 1602 01:03:21,029 --> 01:03:18,960 a look and you'll see a lot of great 1603 01:03:23,510 --> 01:03:21,039 seminars archived and i hope to see you 1604 01:03:25,190 --> 01:03:23,520 all in three weeks from now for roger 1605 01:03:26,470 --> 01:03:25,200 summon seminar and jack thanks once