TRR 392: Molecular evolution in prebiotic environments

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How could molecules in a prebiotic setting have created robust Darwinian evolution and created the first sequence information of Life? This CRC brings together expertise from a wide range of fields, including geosciences, chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry and theory, to bring this age-old question to a solution. We aim to answer the following key questions: (i) What chemical, physical, and geological constraints are required to trigger the molecular evolution of RNA? (ii) What are the primitive selection pressures that bridge from chemical evolution of RNA to the Darwinian evolution of sequences? (iii) Can we create a novel biotechnology for the autonomous evolution of molecules? (iv) Can our experiments define the requirements for early life on other planets? Darwinian evolution requires a molecule that carries information, is open to variation and selection and links to modern biology. RNA has been the choice of biology and the focus of the Origins of Life field from the beginning. Unlike traditional approaches of single disciplines in the field, we will integrate RNA synthesis, oligomerization, strand-separation and replication and combine them with amino acids to achieve translation. Only this way, we will be able to reveal the chemical evolution that chose RNA over all other possible information molecules. In Research Area A: Replication and Selection towards Function, we will explore novel mechanisms to implement the molecular cycle of RNA replication, variation, selection, and strand separation to drive molecular evolution. In Research Area B: Environments that drive Molecular Evolution, we will study environments that can feed the system, support catalysis, allow compartmentalization in non-equilibrium settings to drive evolution. In combination, we will focus on autonomous and cooperative strategies and methods to address molecular evolution with the long-term goal to breed function through evolution. The long-term goal of this CRC for the full duration of twelve years is twofold. First, laboratory experiments are on the verge of implementing the first steps of autonomous molecular evolution, but lack the combined cross-disciplinary contributions. Second, astrophysics will provide us with information to probe origins of life of exoplanets in lab experiments. Our CRC will lead to major advances in our understanding of how molecular life could have emerged under prebiotic conditions.