" Chemical evolution of RNA and peptides under the extreme ancient Earth environments " Kunio Kawamura - 15/02/2017

  Kunio Kawamura (kawamura @ shudo-u.ac.jp)

Professeur à l'Hiroshima Shudo University
Department of Human Environmental Studies
 

  (kawamura @ shudo-u.ac.jp)Biographie 

 Mercredi 15 Février, à 14h dans la salle 101 de l'UFR de chimie (tour 32, 1e étage, couloir 32-42)

" Chemical evolution of RNA and peptides under the extreme ancient Earth environments "

Résumé :

Accumulation of biomolecules should have been an essential step for the emergence of life under the primitive Earth environments. RNA possesses both functions as informational molecules and enzymatic molecules. This fact supports the RNA world hypothesis, where RNA molecules play both the roles instead of modern DNA and proteins. On the other hand, naturally proteins are also important molecules although there is no evidence that proteins could have preserved genetic information. Thus, different types of simulation experiments have been carried out on the accumulation of RNA and protein-like molecules under the primitive Earth. At the same time, the chemical evolution processes should be compatible to the plausible extreme Earth environments with high temperature and pressure. We have developed several types of hydrothermal flow reactor systems to analyze chemical reactions under such Earth extreme environments to be compatible with the RNA world hypothesis. These techniques enable to monitor rapid reactions within the millisecond to second time scale under hydrothermal conditions. These can be also applied for in situ monitoring of UV-VIS-NIR absorption spectra and reactions in the presence of naturally-occurring minerals at high temperatures. In this seminar, details of hydrothermal reactors and its applications to the chemical evolution of RNA and protein-like molecules are discussed.