Looked at life from both sides now

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jillian E. Smith, Emory University; Allisandra K. Mowles, Emory University; Anil Mehta, Emory University; David Lynn, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-12-11
• Publisher: MDPI
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2014 by the authors
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life4040887
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Life
• ISSN: 2075-1729
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 4
• Start Page: 887
• End Page: 902
• Grant/Funding Information: The authors acknowledge Joni Mitchell and Emory University for inspiration, National Science Foundation through the award IOS # 1423862, the NASA Astrobiology Program, under the National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation (CHE-1004570 and NSF-CBC-0739189) and the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy through Grant DE-ER15377.
• Keywords: Amyloid; Chemical and biomolecular evolution; Prions; Molecular mutualisms; Dynamic chemical networks; Digital and analog information
• Research Categories: Chemistry, General; Biology, General

Abstract

As the molecular top–down causality emerging through comparative genomics is combined with the bottom–up dynamic chemical networks of biochemistry, the molecular symbiotic relationships driving growth of the tree of life becomes strikingly apparent. These symbioses can be mutualistic or parasitic across many levels, but most foundational is the complex and intricate mutualism of nucleic acids and proteins known as the central dogma of biological information flow. This unification of digital and analog molecular information within a common chemical network enables processing of the vast amounts of information necessary for cellular life. Here we consider the molecular information pathways of these dynamic biopolymer networks from the perspective of their evolution and use that perspective to inform and constrain pathways for the construction of mutualistic polymers.