Prof. Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy
Title: A Search for the Chemical Roots of Origins of Life
Bio:
Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy is currently a Professor of Chemistry in the department of chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in California. His research focuses on employing the tools of synthetic organic chemistry to understand the prebiotic chemical roots of life’s processes (the “Why”) and its emergence (the “How”) under early Earth Environments.
Abstract:
Our current understanding of the chemistry that gave rise to life on early Earth is guided by focusing (solely) on extant biochemistry and extrapolating them back to prebiotic Earth. However, this perspective generally ignores the early co-evolutionary role of other prebiotic molecules, chemistries and processes. Therefore, a different approach would be to begin with what would have been plausible prebiotic reaction mixtures –which may have no obvious or direct connection to life’s chemical building blocks and processes– and allow their chemistries and interactions (under defined conditions) to guide and illuminate as to what processes and systems can emerge. Such a concept gives rise to the prospect that chemistry of life-as-we-know-it is not the only result (“destiny”), but one that has emerged among many potential possibilities (“destination”). The lecture will describe a non-teleological (non-purposeful) approach which has led to the “18th camel paradigm” in our research endeavors – raising the question of whether the actual historical pathways of life’s origin on early Earth can be discovered or have to be (re)invented.
Keywords: RNA, DNA, Origins of Life, Protometabolism, Protocells, Prebiotic Chemistry
Faculty Host: Prof. Zoe Todd