Poster abstracts
Poster number 62 submitted by Haiyun Liu
Coacervate rescue of nucleic acid enzyme activity damaged by UV
Haiyun Liu (Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA), Philip C Bevilacqua (Department of Chemistry; Center for RNA Molecular Biology; Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA)
Abstract:
According to the RNA world hypothesis, RNA had the roles of catalyst and genetic information carrier in the emergence of life. However, lack of proofreading in RNA replication and the unstable chemical nature of RNA compared to DNA make it more challenging for RNA to retain its catalytic activity. Additionally, ribozymes were under strong UV radiation of the early earth which lacked an ozone layer. On the other hand, membraneless compartments such as coacervates have been hypothesized as plausible prebiotic compartments due to their ability to enrich cations, nucleotides and RNA. Moreover, enhancements of activity of various ribozymes by coacervates have been described in previous studies. We hypothesize that coacervates can rescue the activity of intact ribozymes, as well as damaged, mutated, and fragmented ones. To test this hypothesis, we are using UV light to damage a DNAzyme, and attempting rescuing it with PDAC/D10 coacervate. Our latest design and results will be presented.
References:
Poudyal, R.R., Guth-Metzler, R.M., Veenis, A.J. et al. Template-directed RNA polymerization and enhanced ribozyme catalysis inside membraneless compartments formed by coacervates. Nat Commun 10, 490 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08353-4
Keywords: Astrobiology, Nucleic acid enzyme, Coacervate