IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jchals/v10y2019i1p28-d221869.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Recent Advances in Origins of Life Research by Biophysicists in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Tony Z. Jia

    (Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan)

  • Yutetsu Kuruma

    (Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan
    JST, PRESTO, 4-1-8 Honcho, Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan)

Abstract

Biophysics research tends to focus on utilizing multidisciplinary technologies and interdisciplinary collaborations to study biological phenomena through the lens of chemistry and physics. Although most current biophysics work is focused on studying extant biology, the fact remains that modern biological systems at some point were descended from a universal common ancestor. At the core of modern biology is the important question of how the earliest life on (or off) Earth emerged. Recent technological and methodological advances developed by biophysicists in Japan have allowed researchers to gain a new suite of knowledge related to the origins of life (OoL). Using these reports as inspiration, here, we highlight some of the significant OoL advances contributed by members of the biophysical research field in Japan with respect to the synthesis and assembly of biological (or pre-biological) components on early Earth, the co-assembly of primitive compartments with biopolymer systems, and the evolution of early genetic systems. We hope to provide inspiration to other biophysicists to not only use the always-advancing suite of available multidisciplinary technologies to continue their own line of work, but to also consider how their work or techniques can contribute to the ever-growing field of OoL research.

Suggested Citation

  • Tony Z. Jia & Yutetsu Kuruma, 2019. "Recent Advances in Origins of Life Research by Biophysicists in Japan," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:10:y:2019:i:1:p:28-:d:221869
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/10/1/28/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/10/1/28/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kensuke Kurihara & Yusaku Okura & Muneyuki Matsuo & Taro Toyota & Kentaro Suzuki & Tadashi Sugawara, 2015. "A recursive vesicle-based model protocell with a primitive model cell cycle," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Carolina M. Mizuno & Charlotte Guyomar & Simon Roux & Régis Lavigne & Francisco Rodriguez-Valera & Matthew B. Sullivan & Reynald Gillet & Patrick Forterre & Mart Krupovic, 2019. "Numerous cultivated and uncultivated viruses encode ribosomal proteins," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Norihiro Maruyama & Daichi Saito & Yasuhiro Hashimoto & Takashi Ikegami, 2019. "Dynamic organization of flocking behaviors in a large-scale boids model," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 77-84, January.
    4. Jonathan T. Sczepanski & Gerald F. Joyce, 2014. "A cross-chiral RNA polymerase ribozyme," Nature, Nature, vol. 515(7527), pages 440-442, November.
    5. Kilian Vogele & Thomas Frank & Lukas Gasser & Marisa A. Goetzfried & Mathias W. Hackl & Stephan A. Sieber & Friedrich C. Simmel & Tobias Pirzer, 2018. "Towards synthetic cells using peptide-based reaction compartments," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Olaf Witkowski & Takashi Ikegami, 2016. "Emergence of Swarming Behavior: Foraging Agents Evolve Collective Motion Based on Signaling," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-26, April.
    7. Norikazu Ichihashi & Kimihito Usui & Yasuaki Kazuta & Takeshi Sunami & Tomoaki Matsuura & Tetsuya Yomo, 2013. "Darwinian evolution in a translation-coupled RNA replication system within a cell-like compartment," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-7, December.
    8. Sidney Becker & Christina Schneider & Hidenori Okamura & Antony Crisp & Tynchtyk Amatov & Milan Dejmek & Thomas Carell, 2018. "Wet-dry cycles enable the parallel origin of canonical and non-canonical nucleosides by continuous synthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Yuki Suzuki & Masayuki Endo & Hiroshi Sugiyama, 2015. "Lipid-bilayer-assisted two-dimensional self-assembly of DNA origami nanostructures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-9, November.
    10. Yudan Yin & Lin Niu & Xiaocui Zhu & Meiping Zhao & Zexin Zhang & Stephen Mann & Dehai Liang, 2016. "Non-equilibrium behaviour in coacervate-based protocells under electric-field-induced excitation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, April.
    11. Tomonori Shibata & Yoshihiko Fujita & Hirohisa Ohno & Yuki Suzuki & Karin Hayashi & Kaoru R. Komatsu & Shunsuke Kawasaki & Kumi Hidaka & Shin Yonehara & Hiroshi Sugiyama & Masayuki Endo & Hirohide Sai, 2017. "Protein-driven RNA nanostructured devices that function in vitro and control mammalian cell fate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Jay Shendure & Shankar Balasubramanian & George M. Church & Walter Gilbert & Jane Rogers & Jeffery A. Schloss & Robert H. Waterston, 2017. "DNA sequencing at 40: past, present and future," Nature, Nature, vol. 550(7676), pages 345-353, October.
    13. Samuel Berhanu & Takuya Ueda & Yutetsu Kuruma, 2019. "Artificial photosynthetic cell producing energy for protein synthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christoph Ziegenhain & Rickard Sandberg, 2021. "BAMboozle removes genetic variation from human sequence data for open data sharing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Jeffrey L. Bada, 2023. "Volcanic Island lightning prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life in the early Hadean eon," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-3, December.
    3. Hannes Rothe & Katharina Barbara Lauer & Callum Talbot-Cooper & Daniel Juan Sivizaca Conde, 2023. "Digital entrepreneurship from cellular data: How omics afford the emergence of a new wave of digital ventures in health," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Zhirui Cao & Dejun Fan & Yang Sun & Ziyu Huang & Yue Li & Runping Su & Feng Zhang & Qing Li & Hongju Yang & Fen Zhang & Yinglei Miao & Ping Lan & Xiaojian Wu & Tao Zuo, 2024. "The gut ileal mucosal virome is disturbed in patients with Crohn’s disease and exacerbates intestinal inflammation in mice," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Omer Adir & Mia R. Albalak & Ravit Abel & Lucien E. Weiss & Gal Chen & Amit Gruber & Oskar Staufer & Yaniv Kurman & Ido Kaminer & Jeny Shklover & Janna Shainsky-Roitman & Ilia Platzman & Lior Gepstein, 2022. "Synthetic cells with self-activating optogenetic proteins communicate with natural cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Susanne Theuerl & Johanna Klang & Annette Prochnow, 2019. "Process Disturbances in Agricultural Biogas Production—Causes, Mechanisms and Effects on the Biogas Microbiome: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    7. Susanne Theuerl & Christiane Herrmann & Monika Heiermann & Philipp Grundmann & Niels Landwehr & Ulrich Kreidenweis & Annette Prochnow, 2019. "The Future Agricultural Biogas Plant in Germany: A Vision," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-32, January.
    8. Sina Majidian & Mohammad Hossein Kahaei & Dick de Ridder, 2020. "Minimum error correction-based haplotype assembly: Considerations for long read data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-12, June.
    9. Fares Almomani & Amera Abdelbar & Sophia Ghanimeh, 2023. "A Review of the Recent Advancement of Bioconversion of Carbon Dioxide to Added Value Products: A State of the Art," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-30, July.
    10. Hua Wu & Xuanlin Du & Xiaohui Meng & Dong Qiu & Yan Qiao, 2021. "A three-tiered colloidosomal microreactor for continuous flow catalysis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    11. Hinako Kawabe & Christopher A. Thomas & Shuichi Hoshika & Myong-Jung Kim & Myong-Sang Kim & Logan Miessner & Nicholas Kaplan & Jonathan M. Craig & Jens H. Gundlach & Andrew H. Laszlo & Steven A. Benne, 2023. "Enzymatic synthesis and nanopore sequencing of 12-letter supernumerary DNA," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:10:y:2019:i:1:p:28-:d:221869. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.