Assistant Professor Irene Chen (University of California Santa Barbara) - "Lessons from ribozyme evolution"

Abstract

Early life may have been based on catalytic RNA, or ribozymes. Using in vitro evolution, our laboratory systematically maps RNA sequence space to understand evolutionary landscapes and their implications for the origin of life. Could a population of RNAs exploring sequence space through evolution actually discover the fittest sequences? Would replaying the Gouldian 'tape of life' yield the same outcome in the RNA world? Our recent work addresses these questions using ribozymes that self-aminoacylate using prebiotically plausible activated amino acids, an early step toward the genetic code. I will also briefly discuss how an understanding of evolutionary landscapes can be applied toward engineering bionanomaterials.