2. A PPLICATION OF M OLECULAR B IOLOGY T ECHNIQUES IN A STROBIOLOGY IN A STROBIOLOGY R ICCARDO S. G ATTA Ph.D. Molecular Genetics, I.C.G.E.B. New Delhi, Reg’d Pharmacist J ULIAN C HELA- F LORES The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics Strada Costiera 11; 34136 Trieste, Italy and Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, Caracas 1015A, Venezuela

3. I NTRODUCTION  C LASSIC M OLECULAR B IOLOGY APPROACH TO R ECOGNISE M OLECULAR B IOSIGNATURES,  A PPLY THIS IN AN I SOLATED E NVIRONMENT. &  S ELECT T ARGET,  S ELECT T ECHNIQUE,  A DAPT...

4. H AEKEL (1834-1919) W OESE (1980’s) S EARCH FOR L IFE IN THE U NIVERSE D ARWIN (1809-1882) A NCESTOR M ODERN ? K NOWN U NKNOWN ? ANAXIMANDER (VI BCE) DEMOCRITUS (460-370 BCE) T he O rigin O BSERVATIONS - E VOLUTION M ACROSCOPIC M ICROSCOPIC M OLECULAR D IVERGENT C ONVERGENT E VOLUTION M ODELS OF P ARALLEL L AST A NCESTOR U NIVERSAL C OMMON

5. Yes E VOLUTION & N ATURAL S ELECTION UNIVERSAL C ONCEPTS ? No continue… L IFE …? (…and skip next slide) IF

6. Structure LIFE AS A T ARGET I DENTIFY & Q UANTIFY Complex Structures Chemistry Emergent Chirality LIFE Complexity Energy Transduction Polymers Replication Specific Interactions Driving Forces Molecular / Cellular Metabolism More Complexity More Disequilibrium Waste Yes E VOLUTION & N ATURAL S ELECTION UNIVERSAL C ONCEPTS ? No continue… L IFE …? (…and skip next slide) IF

7. Figure from Labfrontier Corporation REPLICATION: DNA ↕ DNA TRANSLATION: mRNA ↓ Protein TRANSCRIPTION: DNA ↓ mRNA C ENTRAL D OGMA OF M OLECULA R B IOLOGY Crick, 1958 DO NOT code for : DNARNA PROTEINS “… to apply only to present-day organisms, and not to events in the remote past, such as the origin of life or the origin of the code.” Crick, 1970

8. K v K ir Ca v Na v Early K channels Voltage-gated channels P HANEROZOIC 570 Myo - present P ROTEROZOIC 2.5 Gyo – 570 Myo A RCHEAN 4.6 – 2.5 Gyo ~800 million years ago Ancient Proteins, membrane channels T IME / E VOLUTION Modern Proteins Example of divergence from LUCA at Check-Point Intervals Check-Point Intervals For: Homology with known molecules Na Ca K E VOLUTIONARY C RITERIA Moczydlowski, 1998 Homology with known molecules Where can we seek homology? BUT

9. 1: 2: Homology in: BLUE 2, Joan Miro’. 1: INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS COMPOSITION 8, Vassily Kandinsky. 2: BUILD UP (CONSTRUCTION)

10. DECONSTRUCT IDENTIFY BASIC ELEMENTS EUROPA FROM: NASA, JPL, UA, UC. 3: THE PARADIGM:

11. LINK to PART 2