Poster abstracts
Poster number 109 submitted by Matthew Pawlak
Perchlorate brine abrogates protein function whereas ribozymes thrive
Matthew Pawlak (Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Devlopment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Unites States), Tanner Hoog (Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Devlopment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Unites States), Nathaniel Gaut (Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Unites States), Kate Adamala (Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Devlopment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Unites States), Aaron Engelhart (Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Devlopment, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Unites States)
Abstract:
Mars is among those most attractive environments with sufficient similarity to earth Earth to potentially host life. The potential presence of liquid water and chemical similarity of the Martian regolith to that of Earth have led many to consider Mars as a potential environment that could host life. Work to date has largely focused on the presence of microbes on Mars, and less work has been done regarding Mars as a potential prebiotic planet - past or present - that could harbor biosignatures or pre-biosignatures. Reasons for optimism for Mars as both a biotic and a prebiotic planet exist. One such reason is the likely, potentially periodic, potential of liquid water enabled by the presence of hygroscopic oxychlorine salts such as perchlorate, first detected by the Phoenix mission and confirmed by the Curiosity mission. Perchorate is a unique ion. Beyond its potential role in enabling the presence of liquid water, it has been invoked as a potential oxygen source. Here, we consider the fact that it is a profoundly chaotropic Hofmeister ion and destabilizing to biopolymer secondary structure. Despite this, we have observed in a range of experiments that an RNA world in perchlorate brines is possible, and even favored over one employing protein catalysts.
Keywords: G Quadruplex, Mars, Perchlorate