This Symbio-Darwinian approach enriches the models of life’s appearance and development on Earth and beyond, with direct consequences in the construction of the astrobiological knowledge. Carrapio, F., Pereira, L. and Rodrigues, T. (2007). Contribution to a Symbiogenic Approach in Astrobiology, Proc. of SPIE, 6694: 669406-1–669406-10. Dyson, F. (1985) Origins of Life. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Sapp, J., Carrapio,
F. and Zolotonosov, M. (2002). Symbiogenesis: The Hidden Face of Constantin Merezhkowsky. Hist. Phil. Life Sci., PF2341066 24: 413–440. E-mail: fcarrapico@fc.ul.pt Giant Vesicles and w/o Emulsions as Biochemical Reactors P.Carrara, P. Stano, P. L. Luisi Biology Dept. University of RomaTre, Rome Giant vesicles (GVs) and w/o emulsion are micrometer-sized compartments which can be used to construct biochemical reactors. Such structures may be used as cell model to investigate foundamental properties of simple cells and protocells. In this contribution, we will show how to use
w/o emulsion to construct synthetic compartments. In particular, it will be shown a reactor that hosts a complex biochemical reaction inside (the expression of a protein) Etomoxir order and simultaneously divides thanks to the increase of boundary surface (Fiordemondo and Stano, 2007). Moreover, w/o emulsion can be used to construct GVs. Inspired by previously reported studies (Pautot et al., 2003; Noireaux and Libchaber, 2004) we have started a systematic investigation of GVs formation starting from the corresponding w/o droplets, at the aim of improving the reproducibility of the method and the capacity of sustain compartmentalized enzymatic reactions. Fiordemondo D, Stano P (2007) Lecithin-based water-in-oil compartments as dividing bioreactors. ChemBioChem 8, 1965. Noireaux V, Libchaber A (2004) A vesicle bioreactor as a step DNA ligase toward an artificial cell assembly. PNAS 101, 17669. Pautot S, Frisken BJ, Weitz DA. (2003) Engineering asymmetric vesicles. PNAS 100, 10718. E-mail: pcarrara@uniroma3.it The World of the “Never Born Proteins” Chiarabelli
C.1,2, De Lucrezia D.2,1, Stano P.1,2, Luisi P.L.1 1Departement of Biology, University of Roma TRE, Rome, Italy; 2ECLT, European Center for Living Technology, Venice, Italy The rationality behind our research relies on the observation that the number of natural Selleck DMXAA proteins on our Earth, although apparently large, is only a tiny fraction of all the possible ones. Indeed, there are thought to be roughly 1012–14 proteins of all sizes in extant organisms. This apparently huge number represents less than noise when compared to the number of all theoretically different proteins. This means that there is an astronomically large number of proteins that have never been sampled by natural evolution on Earth: the “Never Born Proteins” (NBPs).