Colloquium
January 08, 2013
3:30 PM
Noyce Conference Room
Paul G. Falkowski (Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program, Rutgers University)
Abstract. Life is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Over the past decade, together with collaborators, I have been analyzing the biochemical reactions responsible for energy generation in all organisms, and we have identified a set of ~500 “core” genes which encode for the energy transduction systems on a planetary scale. In this lecture, I will examine the evolutionary trajectory of these core reactions, culminating in the splitting of water by light and the use of oxygen as a terminal electron acceptor by aerobic microbes. These two, and fifteen other processes, form a global electronic circuit, where individual organisms essentially are transistors on a planetary circuit board. The wires are the two primary geophysical fluids: the ocean and the atmosphere. The primary power supply is solar energy. The output is a self-replicating system that decreases entropy at the cost of increased energy dissipation; a condition that is not amenable to classical Boltzmann functions. The system has a limited number of transistor designs. We have identified 35 basic structural elements, which appear to have a single common ancestor with a core Fe4S4 motif. We are attempting to develop a phylogeny of the core motifs in an effort to understand the evolution of biologically catalyzed redox reactions.
Purpose: Research Collaboration
SFI Host: Rogier Braakman
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