Resuscutating RNA...not that it needed saving

There is a problem that has been dogging biologists for a long time...How did life emerge from the the chemical building blocks of life, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Phosphorus?  We know that these elements existed, and it has been postulated for the past two decades or so that RNA is the most likely first step toward the self-replicating chemistry that is life.  The two components of life that are thought to be required for early life are some sort of cell membrane, such as the micelles that are readily formed by amphipathic molecules, and some sort of molecule that can carry genetic information.  There is a lot of evidence that RNA is this first genetic molecule.  It has some interesting characteristics, such as its capability to act as an enzyme for RNA replication, it's ability to catalyze peptide bonds (important for protein synthesis), and catalyze other chemical reactions.  While there are some still some questions about the RNA world, I recently heard about one possible solution to what I see as the biggest problem: how do you form the RNA bases from simpler molecules?

Experiments aiming to recreate the basic chemicals of life have been done for well over half a century.  The basic experiment is to take elemental molecules, such as C, N, O, P, etc., and subject them to electricity, heat, pressure.  Many complex molecules have fallen out of these experiments, but never DNA or RNA.

Cue John Sutherland and his coworkers.  They devised an interesting new take on this old experiment.  They started with simple components, but took a cue from organic chemistry and added parts stepwise.  One of the largest problems has been that the addition of the cytosine base to the ribose sugar just does not work.  However, they were able to form a ribose that had a reactive nitrogen upon which the cytosine base could be built.  Although this may seem artificial (and it certainly was), many of the steps that they took are not that dissimilar to what might have happened, given a long enough time period.  This is really a huge step forward, as it strengthens the RNA world hypothesis.

Here are links to two news and views articles, as well as the paper itself.  I found it very interesting; let me know what you think.

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090513/full/news.2009.471.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7244/full/459171a.html 
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v459/n7244/full/nature08013.html
You probably need access to Nature to see the last two.

Another Helix Turn Helix Show!

So it's one year later and Helix Turn Helix played another show!  This time it was a Battle of the Bands, with proceeds going to support the South Park Inn, where UConn Medical Students run a free clinic.


It was an awesome line up.  The first band up was Bootleg Radio, who are good friends of mine and who we have played with before.  They played a great set of original songs, with some new tunes as well as some old favorites.

We were second in the line up, and we played some new songs.  We opened with what has become out standard opener, Your Love, also known as Josie.  We then played an awesome song by Florence and the Machine, Dog Days are over.  Below is a recording of us practicing that song.  We also performed two new songs that we wrote, as well as Tick Tock by Ke$ha and F#$* You by Cee Lo.  Overall, the show went pretty well.

Next up was The Placeholders, a band made up of mostly Dental students.  They were very tight, and played a bunch of great covers.

On the whole, this was an awesome event.  Everyone who came had a great time.  We raised over $2,600 dollars for South Parm Clinic, which is incredible.  Thanks to everyone who came and supported us!

First post

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while. It seems like all the cool kids are doing it these days. So here goes...

This blog will about two of my passions, one old and one rediscovered. I will try to make comments as often as I can. With my school schedule being somewhat variable, I will try to post at least once a week, maybe more during slow weeks. We'll see what happens.

The old is science, and genetics in particular. I will be putting up links to, and adding some commentary on, all the cool stuff that's happening in science these days.

The rediscovered is my rediscovered interest in playing music. I played the bass a lot in high school, but really only for basketball pep band and with the jazz band. Recently though, 3 friends and I started a band called Helix Turn Helix and the Major Groove. As one friend pointed out, that sounds like a band from the 70's, maybe like Sly and the Family Stone. If that's who we're compared with, I'm cool with that. 


Anyway, my friend Alon signed up sometime in November to play a gig in January as a fundraiser for South Park, a free clinic that is run by UConn Medical School students.  However, he didn't have a band to play with.  In December, AD, AW, JW and I started tossing around the idea of playing together, and started to come up with songs we could play.  One thing led to another, and Helix Turn Helix and the Major Groove was born.

We played our first show on January 21st at a local watering hole called Murphy and Scarletti's.  Because of the recent earthquake in Haiti, we worked with a school group to raise money to support the relief efforts.  The show went really well, and we played before another UCHC band, Bootleg Radio.  Hopefully we will have more shows in the future, and we can write some of our own music this summer.  Here's some pictures from the show!

Thanks for reading!