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Prof.John Sutherland(MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge UK)
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Europe/Paris
Amphithéâtre Charpak (LPNHE)
Amphithéâtre Charpak
LPNHE
Description
By reconciling previously conflicting views about the origin of life - in which one or other cellular subsystem precedes, and then ‘invents’ the others - a new modus operandi for its study is suggested. Guided by this, a cyanosulfidic protometabolism is uncovered which uses UV light and the stoichiometric reducing power of hydrogen sulfide to convert hydrogen cyanide, and a couple of other prebiotic feedstock molecules which can be derived therefrom, into nucleic acid, peptide and lipid building blocks. Geochemical scenarios consistent with this protometabolism are outlined. Finally, the transition of a system from the inanimate to the animate state is considered in the context of there being intermediate stages of partial ‘aliveness’.