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Origin of Enzymes: Study of Hyperbranched Polymer Scaffolded Nanoparticles

Research Project

Project/Area Number 21K03735
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Section一般
Review Section Basic Section 17050:Biogeosciences-related
Research InstitutionTokyo Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

ママジャノフ イリーナ  東京工業大学, 地球生命研究所, 特任教授 (80776261)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) ジャー トニーズィ  東京工業大学, 地球生命研究所, 特任助教 (10800328)
Project Period (FY) 2021-04-01 – 2022-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2021)
Budget Amount *help
¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000)
Fiscal Year 2023: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000)
Keywordshyperbranched polymer / polyester / wet-dry cycle / smart material / protoenzyme / biomimetic catalysis / chemical evolution / origin of life / nanoparticle / biomimetic catalyst
Outline of Research at the Start

Key question: How did enzymes emerge and evolve from prebiotic systems?
Hypothesis: Protoenzymes employed metallic and small molecule cofactors, similar to modern ones, which were scaffolded by prebotically available globular polymers, such as HBP instead of proteins and RNA.
Research methods: The project would include the study of the synthesis of HBP-NPs under prebiotic conditions and their characterization.
Importance: A successful outcome of the project would further our fundamental understanding of the origin of enzymatic catalysis, a mechanism that governs all biochemical transformations.

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

We developed solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods for detecting water bound and immobilized inside hyperbranched polymers. Based on the results we were able to classify the different polymers based on their water content. This property will become important at the later stages when designing catalysts for specific reactions. We optimized synthesize and analyze depsipeptide hyperbranched polymers. The polymers are synthesized by reacting a polyester matrix with amino acids. We have devised optimal amino acid mixes that allow for detectable selection without overwhelming the analysis.
We studied in more detail a lysine based hyperbranched polymer and it's catalytic ability. We found that polysine is capable of efficient catalysis of Kemp elimination.

Report

(1 results)
  • 2021 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (3 results)

All 2021

All Journal Article (3 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 2 results,  Peer Reviewed: 2 results,  Open Access: 2 results)

  • [Journal Article] Connecting primitive phase separation to biotechnology, synthetic biology, and engineering2021

    • Author(s)
      Jia Tony Z、Wang Po-Hsiang、Niwa Tatsuya、Mamajanov Irena
    • Journal Title

      Journal of Biosciences

      Volume: 46 Issue: 3 Pages: 79-79

    • DOI

      10.1007/s12038-021-00204-z

    • Related Report
      2021 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Incorporation of Basic α-Hydroxy Acid Residues into Primitive Polyester Microdroplets for RNA Segregation2021

    • Author(s)
      Tony Z. Jia, Niraja V. Bapat, Ajay Verma, Irena Mamajanov, H. James Cleaves II, and Kuhan Chandru*
    • Journal Title

      Biomacromolecules

      Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Pages: 1484-1493

    • DOI

      10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01697

    • Related Report
      2021 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Single-molecule origin of life scenario: Necessity and feasibility2021

    • Author(s)
      Mamajanov Irena
    • Journal Title

      Physics of Life Reviews

      Volume: 38 Pages: 143-144

    • DOI

      10.1016/j.plrev.2021.04.007

    • Related Report
      2021 Annual Research Report

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Published: 2021-04-28   Modified: 2023-12-25  

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