FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE LECTURE The RNA World: Forerunner of Our DNA World? Lecturer: Raymond F. Gesteland, distinguished professor of human genetics, University of Utah Date: Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2006 (TONIGHT!) Time: 7:30 p.m. Place: Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Building Auditorium, University of Utah FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC In our modern biological world, all the functions of life are carried out by cells. The core machinery is made of proteins that direct the cells’ complex chemistry and behavior by precisely triggering chemical reactions within the cell. Proteins are synthesized by particular components of the cellular machinery (made mostly of proteins themselves) that take their instructions from the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of genes. The DNA, in turn, is copied by other components that also are made of proteins. Thus, each kind of primary, large biological molecule – protein and DNA – depends directly on the other for its existence, and cells need both, working together, to grow, divide and function normally. This absolute interdependence between proteins and DNA in modern life gives rise to a profound chicken-and-egg problem: How could our DNA-and-protein world have evolved if neither DNA nor protein can exist without the other? The answer may be found in ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is similar to DNA, and like DNA it can carry genetic information. But it can also fold into complex shapes and act as a catalyst – like proteins do – to trigger chemical reactions. This makes it a candidate for solving the chicken-and-egg problem. Many lines of reasoning and evidence suggest that an RNA world early in Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history could have supported the gradual evolution of both DNA and proteins. Although this theory may help solve the chicken and egg problem, it does not explain how the RNA world itself might have arisen. Gesteland earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at Harvard University in 1965 and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1967, John Cairns hired him to work at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, where he became assistant director for research with James Watson, who received the Nobel Prize in 1962 for his discovery of the DNA double helix. Gesteland was attracted to Utah in 1978 as a full professor of biology. In 1984, he accepted a faculty appointment in human genetics and became a distinguished professor in 1996. Gesteland is currently the vice president for research at the University of Utah, as well as a distinguished professor of human genetics and the recipient of the Helen Lowe Bamberger Colby Presidential Endowed Chair in Human Genetics. He has nearly 200 publications and is a member of the RNA Society and the American Academy of Microbiology. University of Utah College of Science 1430 E. Presidents Circle, Room 220 Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0140 (801) 581-6958 fax: (801) 585-3169 www.science.utah.edu __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com