Natalia Mrnjavac, Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany will give a talk on:
"The primordial assembly of microbial metabolism"
Friday, 12 June 2026
3 p.m.
Seminar room 1.5, UBB, Djerassiplatz 1, 1030 Vienna, University of Vienna
Join us!
Abstract:
The last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is a hypothetical stage in the early evolution of life connecting prebiotic reactions at life's origin and cellular life. According to the two-domain tree of life, LUCA is the common ancestor of bacteria and archaea. In order to gain insight into this early stage in the evolution of life, we carried out a phylogeny-independent computational study focusing on core metabolic genes involved in the biosynthesis of amino acids, cofactors and nucleotides from simple precursors—CO2, H2, NH3, H2S and Pi. By employing structurally enhanced protein families, we get a glimpse into the primordial assembly of metabolism from LUCA to the last bacterial (LBCA) and the last archaeal (LACA) common ancestors. In addition, an analysis of the structural features of enzymes in the most ancient metabolic pathway reveals the structural inventions underlying the emergence of enzymatic metabolism.
