Collaborative Research: An Interdisciplinary Study of Mineral-Biomolecule Interactions

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The inanimate world of minerals and the dynamic domains of life might at first glance seem unrelated. Yet interactions between mineral surfaces and life's varied biomolecules are ubiquitous in our environment, and are crucial to an extraordinarily broad range of scientific and technological topics. Mineral-molecule interactions play key roles in microbial ecology, environmental monitoring, corrosion and weathering, synthesis and purification of pharmaceuticals, planetary life detection, nanofabrication, and the development of artificial replacements for teeth and bones. These interactions are also key to a host of essential everyday products, including adhesives, paints, lubricants, dyes, solvents and cleaners. Geochemists pay special attention to reactions that occur between mineral surfaces and aqueous molecular species - interactions central to the breakdown of rocks and subsequent soil formation, hydrothermal ore deposition, pH buffering of lakes and oceans, biomineralization and biofilm formation, uptake and release of chemicals that affect water quality, and many other natural processes. Mineral-molecule interactions are also relevant to many models of the origins of life, in such varied roles as the selection, concentration, protection and assembly of biomolecules. In this project investigators employ a diverse arsenal of experimental and theoretical techniques to understand atomic-scale phenomena associated with mineral-molecule interfaces. They will characterize surfaces of such important minerals as rutile (TiO2 - the surface coating of titanium bone replacement and an important constituent of paints), calcite (the commonest biomineral), and apatite (the most important mineral in teeth and bones). They will investigate the interactions of these and other minerals with key biomolecules, including amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), molecular components of the genetic molecules DNA and RNA, and common biological sugars. Building on recent advances, and harnessing resources of the Carnegie Institution, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Delaware, Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, Argonne National Laboratory and other institutions, this proposed collaborative interdisciplinary research program will continue to document in detail conditions under which specific molecules adsorb to specific mineral surfaces, while revealing molecular-scale aspects of those interactions. Researchers will investigate the nature and extent of competitive and cooperative adsorption of small biomolecules, including amino acids and pentose sugars. They will also expand the scope to study possible roles of rock-forming mineral surfaces in life's origins, notably in the selection and stabilization of biomolecules, as well as polymerization reactions. The ultimate objective of this project is thus to develop general principles governing the adsorption of organic species on mineral surfaces - principles that will have broad application to science and industry.