Heat flow driven non-equilibrium environments to foster molecular evolution (B05)

• Subject Area: Biophysics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 521256690

How could simple, natural non-equilibrium systems drive the first processes of molecular evolution? This project investigates how natural, heterogeneous heat flows and thermophoresis-driven pH gradients can solve the critical problem of template inhibition and thus provide a key feature evolution. We explore how simple heat fluxes in the same ubiquitous molecule-selective system generate various concentration ratios of prebiotic components such as polyphosphates, amino acids, or oligonucleotides, enabling a wide range of initial conditions for prebiotic chemistries inaccessible under equilibrium conditions.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 392: Molecular evolution in prebiotic environments
• Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Project Head: Dr. Christof Friedrich Bernhard Mast, since 1/2024