2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Verification of the functional role of coacervate droplets in in vitro RNA evolution
| Project/Area Number |
18K14354
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
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)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Origins of Life / Coacervates / Phase Separation / Polyesters / Prebiotic Chemistry / Protocell / Astrobiology / Chemical Speciation |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I published seven papers in FY2021, including one in ACS Nano as co-first author (Jia, et al. ACS Nano 14(11), 15071-15082 (2020)) about DNA Liquid Crystal assembly in coacervates, one in Scientific Reports as second author (Chandru, Jia, et al. Scientific Reports, 10, 17560 (2020)) about assembly of membraneless droplets from novel prebiotic polymers, and another in Biomacromolecules as first and corresponding author (Jia, et al. Biomacromolecules, 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c01697 (2021)) on compartmentalization of RNA in membraneless cationic polyester microdroplets. The ACS Nano study resulted in significant media coverage, and a press release on the Biomacromolecules study is in preparation. We showed that both polyester microdroplet protocells and Liquid Crystal coacervates are relevant membraneless protocells amenable to function of nucleic acids; these systems are also capable of chemical evolution themselves, and I also published a study related to speciation in primitive compartments as first and co-corresponding author (Jia, et al. Life 11(2), 154 (2021)), which further supports the possibility of evolution within membraneless droplets.
I was also invited for many seminars and lectures including at the Molecular Biology Society of Japan, Japan Geophysical Union, and the Network of Researchers on the Chemical Evolution of Life. A large number of contributed talks at domestic and international meetings also resulted. Finally, I will be an invited speaker at the 2021 Japanese Society for Biological Sciences in Space Annual Meeting.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
As one can see from the large number of publications and invited talks, we are progressing very smoothly. We characterized both polyester and Liquid Crystal coacervate systems in terms of structure and nucleic acid incorporation, and demonstrated their capability for evolution. In particular, the COVID19 pandemic and the related lab shutdowns gave additional opportunity to analyze previous data and prepare manuscripts, which would not have been possible had lab work been progressing continuously. This helped to push our publication production up in FY2020, and we have accomplished most of the goals we set out to accomplish. However, because of various lab shutdowns and access restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we could not accomplish all of our goals yet, and thus we have decided to extent the grant for an additional year to complete more of the originally proposed studies. We hope to achieve more experimental results in FY2021.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
We plan to continue to characterize both DNA Liquid Crystal-Coacervate droplets and polyester microdroplets in terms of function and evolution. In particular, a few more studies related to persistence and evolution of membraneless droplets are planned, especially related to their structure and chemical evolution in the presence of external environmental stressors (such as heat and wet-dry cycling) or nucleotides/nucleic acids. Additionally, we hope to finish up some ongoing work related to characterization of the optimal synthetic conditions of the polyester droplets as well as the ability of primitive hyperbranched polyester structures to incorporate amino acids/peptides as a form of chemical evolution. Finally, we are working on an invited review article related to applying sequencing techniques to the origins of life, which will help to support this project as well.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to the COVID19 pandemic, labs were closed and experimental work was basically not possible during FY2020. Thus, I took this time to analyze previous data, resulting in a number of publications. However, not all experimental goals have been met, and I plan to use the remaining budget to pursue studies related to RNA function (such as protection), evolution, and compartmentalization through lipid encapsulated membraneless droplets and coacervates. I will also pay for a temporary researcher to assist with some experimental work and also some publication fees, depending on the situation.
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Research Products
(33 results)
