ChemiLUCA
Financiado
Modelling the chemiosmotic mode of ATP synthesis in protocells
All modern organisms feature chemiosmosis (ion-motive-force driven processes, including membrane transport and ATP production), and therefore the Last Common Universal Ancestor (LUCA) is believed to be chemiosmotic; although contr...
All modern organisms feature chemiosmosis (ion-motive-force driven processes, including membrane transport and ATP production), and therefore the Last Common Universal Ancestor (LUCA) is believed to be chemiosmotic; although contradictorily. As for chemiosmosis to happen, cells utilise membranes relatively impermeable to the coupling ion (H+ or Na+). It has previously been shown that, theoretically, LUCA could drive chemiosmosis using a geo-chemical H+-gradient but only if it had a leaky membrane. However, a leaky membrane rapidly achieves electrochemical equilibrium offsetting the
H+ influx. For the H+ influx, and therefore chemiosmosis, to continue, the membrane needs a system to pump H+.
Paradoxically, pumping H+ across a leaky membrane is futile. A potential solution has previously been hypothesised in the form of membranes leaky to H+ that harboured: an ATP-synthase coupled to both H+ and Na+, and an antiporter that pumps out Na+ for incoming H+. Such a Na+/H+ antiporter could convert the geochemical H+ gradient into a Na+-gradient. It would be advantageous to do so as a Na+-gradient could be better sustained by the LUCA membrane and could drive ATP production via the promiscuous ATP-synthase. My project aims at obtaining empiricalmvalidation for this hypothesis. To do so, a promiscuous ATP-synthase will be co-reconstituted, alongside a Na+/H+ antiporter, into fatty-acid-containing hybrid liposomes (made from fatty acids and other amphiphilic (phospho)lipids). Ion-gradients will be imposed on the liposomes by pH-jump or
decarboxylase-catalysed alkalisation methods to test whether the system could: a) convert the H+-gradient into a Na+-gradient via the Na+/H+ antiporter, and b) use the Na+- gradient to drive ATP production via the promiscuous ATP-synthase. This study is critical to understand the evolution of chemiosmotic systems and will have implications in evolutionary and synthetic biology as well as astrobiology.
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Duración del proyecto: 26 meses
Fecha Inicio: 2023-03-16
Fecha Fin: 2025-05-31
Fecha Fin: 2025-05-31
Línea de financiación: concedida
El organismo HORIZON EUROPE notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2023-03-16
Línea de financiación objetivo
El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01-01:
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2022
Cerrada
hace 2 años
Presupuesto
El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a
188K€
Líder del proyecto
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5
Perfil tecnológico
TRL
4-5