Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/09/2025
10:30 am - 11:30 am

BSB 108

Dr. Nita Sahai

Professor
School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering; Department of Geoscience; Department of Biology; Integrated Bioscience Program
University of Akron
Profile link: https://www.uakron.edu/geology/faculty-staff/bio-detail.dot?u=sahai

Title: MuSeCOL: Mineral-Catalyzed Mutualism, Selection and Complexity in the Origins of Life

Abstract:

The Origins of Life (OoL) of life at ~ 4 Ga was a result of complex geochemical events involving the interaction of primitive atmosphere, water, dissolved ions, and minerals leading to the abiotic (nonenzymatic) synthesis of molecular building blocks of life (monomers), that were selected from a complicated prebiotic broth and polymerized into longer oligomers (biopolymers), and ultimately self-assembled to form the earliest life-like entities (protocells). The focus of our research is to discover the potential role of minerals and dissolved metal ions in these processes. A long-standing question in this field is whether RNA, enzymes (proteins) or lipid membranes evolved first because, in extant biology, each requires the other. Our group hypothesized the MuSeCol model in which minerals and dissolved ions present in the Hadean geochemical environment promoted the synthesis of these biomolecules by mutual (Mu) coevolution with specific isomer selection (Se) from a complicated (C) prebiotic broth, and supported spontaneous creation of transmembrane ion gradients, thus contributing to the OoL. I will share results from some of our studies supporting this hypothesis.