Sep 30, 2020
Returning guest Nils G. Walter
examines RNA molecules from every possible angle, literally and
metaphorically. His lab at the University of Michigan brings
multidisciplinary minds together to discover what RNA research may
offer the medical community.
Listeners are in for expert assessments on
- Why multiple molecular players lead to such divergence in viral structure and functions;
- How viral spread is simply evolution on a molecular level, retaining mutations that lead to success; and
- What's an "interactome" and what does this concept have to do with the movie Avatar.
Nils G. Walter is a professor of
Chemistry and Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan.
Early in his career he mentored with Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen,
who developed the quasispecies theory, a way to understand how
molecules in the precellular RNA world evolved into more complex
life forms. This experience underpins much of his present work as
well as how he answers Richard's questions.
For example, when Richard asks about the viral-like qualities of
ribosomes and plasmids, Dr. Walter describes his work with the ARC
protein, which his lab is studying. He describes its action
sequence and adds that it is highly related to retroviral packaging
proteins and carries information in our neurons. ARC, he says, has
a way to communicate information between cells and reprogram the
recipient cell just like a virus does. In other words, the
relatedness of these particles is evident.
Relatedness, in fact, is the
name of the game. He comments that his lifetime of research reveals
all of biology as connected—and this is why he is such a fan of
Avatar. A dominate reason for this connection is this exchange of
genetic material endemic to
viruses, bacteria, and other
infectious diseases and basic biological processes. For
example, as extracellular vesicles transfer genetic information
from one to another, so are there similar means of communication
between compounds and molecules as well as environmental impacts
(think epigenetics) that all come together to change genotypes.
He shows this in concrete ways as he answers questions about viral
agency or cellular "choice" by describing how many factors and
interactions lead to different results. Rather than "choice," he
asserts that the molecular environment changes the balance systems
to go in new directions.
For more about his work, see his
lab's web page: sites.lsa.umich.edu/walter-lab.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK