{"505401":{"#nid":"505401","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Extraterrestrial Life May Be Ubiquitous, Georgia Tech Research Suggests","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cssb.biology.gatech.edu\/skolnick\/people\/jeff.html\u0022\u003EJeffrey Skolnick\u003C\/a\u003E and coworkers at the Georgia Tech \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.biology.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Biology\u003C\/a\u003E have shown that the ability to catalyze biochemical reactions is an intrinsic property of protein molecules, defined only by their structure and the principles of chemistry and physics. Their \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/5-207\/v1\u0022\u003Estudy\u003C\/a\u003E was published on Feb. 23, 2016, in the open-access journal \u003Cem\u003EF1000Research\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe finding suggests that where proteins exist, life is possible because biochemical transformations are possible. And because biochemical transformations are required for life, life as we know it could be ubiquitous in the universe.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELife on Earth depends on myriad biochemical reactions mediated by proteins. The conventional wisdom is that the biochemical properties of proteins arise from evolutionary selection. According to the new study, evolution is not necessary for the existence of proteins\u2019 biochemical functions, although evolutionary selection may have optimized proteins for specific roles.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study\u2019s conclusion is profound, said Terry Snell, chair of the School of Biology, in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E. That\u2019s because \u201cthe impression of design pervades biology,\u201d he explained. \u201cAll the exquisite structures in biology\u2014such as the complex anatomy of the vertebrate eye or the molecular structure of enzymes\u2014are thought to have arisen by adaptation directed by natural selection. The new paper suggests that a considerable portion of the design in biology can be attributed to physical and chemical laws that dictate the function and structure of proteins.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cm.utexas.edu\/ron_elber\u0022\u003ERon Elber\u003C\/a\u003E concurs. He is the W.A. \u201cTex\u201d Moncrief Chair\u0026nbsp;in Computational Life Sciences and Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. The work \u201csuggests that physical principles assist nature in selecting proteins for specific functions,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile selection is necessary, it is useful to reduce the number of possibilities, and the Skolnick study suggests a mechanism of how that might happen.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESkolnick and coworkers Mu Gao and Hongyi Zhou at the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cssb.biology.gatech.edu\/skolnick\/people\/jeff.html\u0022\u003ECenter for the Study of Systems Biology\u003C\/a\u003E studied the properties of a library of artificially generated proteins selected only for their intrinsic stability, not any type of function. They found that a remarkable number of the artificial proteins have the unique features of functional proteins, including binding pockets to accommodate small molecules. These pockets are necessary for biochemical catalysis to take place.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough Skolnick and coworkers studied only a small ensemble of protein-like molecules, Elber observed, \u201cit nevertheless includes features that resemble active sites even though it was generated on the basis of physical principles only.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers further predicted computationally that some members of the artificial, nonfunctional protein library would have strong protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions. Such interactions are essential in the machinery of life as we know it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe biochemical seeds of life could be prevalent,\u201d Skolnick said. \u201cIf you rain meteorites containing amino acids and somehow these polymerize to form small proteins, then a subset of these would fold to stable structure and a small subset of these could engage in rudimentary metabolism, all without any selection for biochemical function. Thus, the background probability for function is much larger than had been previously appreciated.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn a manuscript in preparation, Skolnick and coworkers have built on this finding to propose a mechanism for the emergence of chirality in biology. Many compounds can have the same structure and physical properties but differ only in their right- or left-handed orientation. In the presence of other biological molecules, such as proteins, usually only the compounds with one type of handedness\u2014or chirality\u2014can react. In nature, one type of handedness prevails. And how this prevalence emerged has been the subject of years of research.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhere proteins exist, study finds, biochemistry can take place, making life possible.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Where proteins exist, study finds, biochemistry can take place, making life possible"}],"uid":"27570","created_gmt":"2016-02-24 09:06:54","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:53","author":"Will Rusk","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2016-02-24T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"505381":{"id":"505381","type":"image","title":"Proteins via Skolnick","body":null,"created":"1456760341","gmt_created":"2016-02-29 15:39:01","changed":"1475895265","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:54:25","alt":"Proteins via Skolnick","file":{"fid":"204822","name":"skolnick_story_image_f1k_press_v1.1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/skolnick_story_image_f1k_press_v1.1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/skolnick_story_image_f1k_press_v1.1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":707536,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/skolnick_story_image_f1k_press_v1.1_0.jpg?itok=ekfLHT6R"}}},"media_ids":["505381"],"groups":[{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}