Apr 20
Chemistry Department Seminar: Prof. Nicholas Hud (Georgia Tech)
The James D. and Julia P. Morrison Lecture
The RNA World hypothesis posits that early life utilized RNA for information storage (now the job of DNA) and for catalyzing chemical reactions (now the domain of protein enzymes). While this hypothesis remains popular among many origins researchers, a persistent challenge to this hypothesis is our lack of a plausible prebiotic synthesis of RNA. Significant challenges facing the prebiotic synthesis of RNA polymers include nucleobase selection, nucleoside bond formation, and nucleotide polymerization. As possible solutions to these challenges, we are investigating the hypothesis that RNA was preceded by a polymer that would have assembled more easily on the prebiotic Earth than RNA (i.e., proto-RNA), being comprised of a different backbone and different nucleobases. In support of this hypothesis, recent advances have revealed that alternative, plausibly