Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2015

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International Session (Oral)

Symbol B (Biogeosciences) » B-AO Astrobiology & the Origin of Life

[B-AO01] Astrobiology: Origins, Evolution, Distribution of Life

Wed. May 27, 2015 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM 105 (1F)

Convener:*Kensei Kobayashi(Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University), Akihiko Yamagishi(Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science, Department of Molecular Biology), Masatoshi Ohishi(Astronomy Data Center, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Eiichi Tajika(Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo), Takeshi Kakegawa(Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University), Shigeru Ida(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology), Chair:Akihiko Yamagishi(Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science, Department of Molecular Biology), Ken Takai(Extremobiosphere Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology)

3:15 PM - 3:30 PM

[BAO01-01] Understanding the generality of terrestrial life

*Akihiko YAMAGISHI1 (1.Tokyo Univ. Pharm. Life Scie., Dep. Applied Life Scie.)

Keywords:Cell, Organic compounds, Cell membrane, Genetic material

We only know the life on the Earth. In this presentation I am going to evaluate the system especially genetic system of terrestrial life. Water is needed for life to solubilize the molecules and especially important to maintain the structure of protein. Protein is needed to almost all activity of life, especially catalytic activity that is carried by the protein called enzyme. All terrestrial living organism consists of (a) cell(s), surrounded by membrane. Membrane is maintained by the hydrophobic interaction driven by the hydrogen-bonding network between water molecules. Genetic information is used to form the structure of enzymes to induce catalytic activity, forming the arrangement of amino acid residues. What are the necessities and what are the coincidences? I will present some clues to the questions. These can be useful for searching for life in the Universe.