Universal Cold RNA Phase Transitions

DIPC Seminars

Speaker

Felix Ritort
University of Barcelona

When

2024/07/17
12:00

Place

CFM Auditorium

Host

David De Sancho

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Life exists even in the extreme cold, yet we know little about how RNA functions at low temperatures. We have recently discovered unexpected RNA properties at near-to-zero temperatures, specifically a phase transition to a cold RNA phase that implies a hidden, altered RNA biochemistry. We have investigated cold RNA biochemistry using single-RNA force spectroscopy. At low temperatures, we find that sequence-independent contributions of RNA-water interactions outweigh sequence-dependent base pairing, leading to misfolding of fully complementary hairpins. RNA in the cold may have profound implications for understanding the cold adaptation of RNA biochemistry in present-day psychrophilic biota and may have shaped the evolution of a primordial RNA world.