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Selection and Self-Assembly in Non-Equilibrium Environments - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Selection and Self-Assembly in Non-Equilibrium Environments - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Selection and Self-Assembly in Non-Equilibrium Environments Seminar: Physics of the Emergence of Life Mario Gaimann and Manuel Reinhardt Munich, 31 st of May 2019 Motivation Chemical Selection as a Corner Stone of Life Select a wanted product
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Simplified Chemical Reaction Network
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Chemical Reaction Network
Components
C3 C4 C5 C6
Precursor Cn Product CnCn
C3C3 C4C4 C5C5 C6C6 C3C6 Nonsymmetric Products are also possible, e.g. C4C5 or C3C6.
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Chemical Reaction Network R= –C2H5 –C3H7 –C4H9 –C5H11 Fuel Cn H2O Cn 2H+ Precursor Cn Product CnCn Intermediate Cn* Waste Products are very unstable, decay quickly by hydrolysis. There are more chemical processes involved than depicted here (e.g. back reactions). The experimental group developed a kinetic model in Matlab where most processes are included.
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Experimental Setup
Precursor Cn
Fuel
- Mix 300 mM of one precursor and 10
mM of fuel (EDC)
- Measure product (anhydride)
concentration as a function of time Reasonable Expectations
- All precursors are chemically very
similar ⇒ should exhibit similar behavior
- Anhydride concentration grows rapidly
at first but also decays quickly
Experiment 1: Single Precursor
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Experimental Results 5 4 3 2 1 60 min 40 80 120 Concentration (mM) Time (min) C6C6 C4C4 C3C3 C5C5 Anhydride concentrations
Observations
- Longer anhydrides hydrolyze
(decay) more slowly
- C5C5 and C6C6 concentrations
especially show a very pronounced long tail
- For C5C5 and C6C6: Solution
becomes turbid as soon as fuel is added Q: What could explain the special behavior of C5C5 and C6C6?
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Phase Separation
Phase separation
No inhibition Inhibition Oil droplet Aqueous solution C3 C3C3 C5C5 C5
1 2 4 10 2 4 100 2 Persistency factor C3C3 C4C4 C5C5 C6C6 Anhydride persistency factors
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Competition Experiment: Setup
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Competition Experiment: Setup
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Competition Experiment: Setup
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Competition Experiment: Expectations?
Chemical Reaction Network:
Ø Two pathways for C3C5
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
Higher abundance of C3C5?
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Competition Experiment: Results
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Competition Experiment: Results
Low fuel concentration:
v Higher abundance of C3C5 v No phase separation
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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Competition Experiment: Results
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
Low fuel concentration:
v Higher abundance of C3C5 v No phase separation
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Competition Experiment: Results
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
High fuel concentration:
v Higher abundance of C5C5 v Phase separation slows decay of C5C5, cumulative advantage!
Low fuel concentration:
v Higher abundance of C3C5 v No phase separation
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Competition Experiment: Discussion
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al.,
- Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
Persistence and growth
- f existing droplets over
many cycles
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Competition Experiment: Discussion
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al.,
- Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
The longer hydrophobic anhydride C5C5 is self-selected in an non-equilibrium environment! Kinetic selection, not thermodynamic selection!
Persistence and growth
- f existing droplets over
many cycles
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Towards the Origin of Life
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
Extension of the model:
Incorporate more precursors (C3, C4, C5, C6) Ø Product with longest carbon chain C6C6 is self-selected
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Towards the Origin of Life
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
Non-equilibrium self- selection as a general principle
Extension of the model:
Incorporate more precursors (C3, C4, C5, C6) Ø Product with longest carbon chain C6C6 is self-selected
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Potential Applications
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 15895 (2017)
v Self-erasing inks with tuneable lifetimes
Precursor
1 cm
Anhydride
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Potential Applications
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- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 15895 (2017)
v Self-erasing inks with tuneable lifetimes v Kinetic trapping of carboxylate precursors into fibres
Precursor
1 cm
Anhydride +100 mM fuel Precursor
10 µm
after 10 min after 24 hr
Anhydride gel with carboxylate fibres
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Recap
No inhibition Inhibition Oil droplet Aqueous solution C3 C3C3 C5C5 C5
Phase separation inhibits decay of some Products Slow decay can be used as a selection mechanism. For this to work we need fuel and starvation cycles. A simple reaction network as a model of reality
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)
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References
References
1.
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 15895 (2017)
2.
- M. Tena-Solsona et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 2044 (2018)