From ancient lipids to minimal cells: how lipids organize primordial, modern and synthetic life

Datum

06.02.2025

Zeit

11:00 - 12:00

Sprecher

James Saenz

Zugehörigkeit

B CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden

Serie

MPI-CBG Thursday Seminar

Sprache

en

Hauptthema

Biologie

Host

Andre NAdler

Beschreibung

There is no life without lipids. Lipids are essential for cell-environment interactions, cellular organization, and could have been instrumental in the emergence of life itself. Despite significant evolutionary divergence in the identity of the molecules comprising biological membranes, nearly all known life forms converge on a single strategy for building responsive interfaces –lipid membranes.Although a membrane can be assembled from only one type of lipid, biological membranes are built from a staggering diversity of lipid species. Why does life make it so complicated? In this talk I will introduce two directions my lab is pursuing to understand why life needs so many lipids, and the role of lipids in organizing bioactivity: 1.Minimal Microbial Models for Membrane Biology: We've established minimal bacterial systems, notably pathogenic mycoplasma and the Minimal Cell (JCVI-Syn3), as modifiable membrane platforms amenable to synthetic genomics. This approach allows us to dissect and manipulate cell membranes, offering unique insights into lipid-mediated cellular functions and interactions. We have developed approaches to tune and minimize mycoplasma and Syn3 lipidomes, demonstrating that two lipids are sufficient (but far from optimal) for life. Using these minimal bacterial organisms, we can reintroduce genomic and chemical complexity to identifythe crucial components of a functional cell membrane, with the ultimate goal of elucidating and extending the design principles of living membranes2.Novel MembraneSense and ResponseMechanismsbased on RNA-Lipid Interactions: A newdirection in our research is exploring how lipids can selectively interact with, and modulate RNAs. Beyond exploring lipid functions, this work paves the way for developing RNA-lipid interactions to create synthetic membrane sensors and riboregulatory mechanisms. The potential to design lipid-sensitive RNAs opens new avenues for synthetic biology applications, including novel forms of lipid regulation and membrane homeostasis.

Letztmalig verändert: 05.02.2025, 07:37:04