Collaborative Research: Life Out of Water - Possibility of Evolution in Non-Aqueous Environments

Life on Earth is thought to have emerged in water phase. It is not known whether the chemical processes of Life can only occur in a polar liquid like water, or also in non-polar, oily liquids. This project will examine chemistry in non-polar phases to ask whether certain aspects of genetic coding and mutation with selection can take place in the absence of water. The project will provide training in organic chemistry, biochemistry and physical chemistry to many students.

Water is assumed to be a necessity for life. This project will study a counter-factual proposition that certain aspects of extant life on Earth, including genetic coding and mutation with selection, can be reimplemented in the absence of water. To that end, the solubility, folding, assembly and co-assembly of non-polar homologs of canonical nucleic acid monomers and oligomers, wherein the phosphodiester linkage is substituted with a non-polar linkage will be characterized. Dynamic-covalent reactions as alternatives to base-pairing in organic media will be explored and in vitro selection will be performed in oil phase and in oil-water alternating regimes. The project will involve undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers, with student exchange between laboratories, and facilitate mentoring and outreach through SAGANet and K-12 workshops.