Proteins play the primary functional role in nearly all of life’s physiological processes. They are, themselves, the final products of the translation system, life’s oldest and most highly conserved of these processes. The early expansion of protein functions and complex functional networks created the foundation from which cellular life emerged. Here, I describe ancient transitions in protein evolution that ultimately led to the sophisticated protein repertoire of the universal ancestor at the root of the tree of life.
Contemporary Water and Habitability of Mars
Astrobiology and the Antropocene Epoch
Planets, Life, and the Universe Lecture Series (2009 - Present)
Blood Falls: Portal Into an Antarctic Subglacial Microbial World
NAI
