Seminář Ústavu chemického inženýrství

"Evolutionary dynamics of prebiotic chemical systems"

Life is most often defined as a self-sustaining chemical system capable of adaptive evolution. The origin of adaptive evolution is, therefore, fundamental to origins of life, as any system capable of it can start rapidly increasing in complexity eventually leading to extant biology. So, could non-biological chemistries evolve? Theoretical research suggests the possibility of compositional inheritance in some chemical systems, which is based on the relative abundances of their component molecules. Using an experimental framework of recursive transfers-with-dilution I am searching for heritability and evolvability in two types of systems: particles composed of short-chain amphiphiles and small-molecule chemical systems. In the experiments with amphiphilic particles, we observe irregular changes in various properties, including fluorescence of Nile Red dye, with a tendency for parent and offspring samples to have correlated values, suggestive of heritability. This last result, combined with evidence of temporal autocorrelation across generations, suggests the possibility that vesicles could respond to selection. Additionally, in experiments using a mixture of several organic and inorganic compounds with pyrite mineral we also detect evidence of heritability of chemical composition, however only in a relatively small set of compounds. Overall, in this talk I will outline our approach to experimentally quantifying chemical evolution and will show that it can be applied to various systems.