The binding of a range of ligands, including phosphates and thiols, to iron sulfide minerals have been evaluated. The binding is competitive and organic derivatives are selectively displaced from the bulk surface. The dynamic solvation

processes are compatible with selective accumulation of biochemically Pexidartinib significant species in the supernatant (Baaske et al., 2007). These processes in a microporous hydrothermal mineral environment can provide both solution autocatalytic chemistry and a backdrop of homeostasis. These results are incorporated into a model for the emergence of metabolism as a property of autocatalytic processes that dissipate a thermochemical gradient and which are localized FK228 order within microporous compartments. Inheritable reproduction and variation

of such discrete autocatalytic processes, with selection for more efficient catalysis and enhanced reaction dynamics, provides the basis for Darwinian selection to arise at a molecular level thus seeding the emergence of a protometabolic foundation for life. Baaske P., Weinert F. M., Duhr S., Lemke K. H., Russell M. J., and Braunde D. (2007) Extreme accumulation of nucleotides in simulated hydrothermal pore systems. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA, Thiazovivin in vivo 104: 9346–9351. Dörr M. KäéŸbohrer J., Grunert R., Kreisel G., Brand W. A., Werner R. A., Geilmann H., Apfel C., Christian Robl C. and Weigand W. (2003). A possible prebiotic formation of ammonia from dinitrogen on iron sulfide surfaces. Angew.Chem. Int. Edn. Engl. 42: 1540–1543. Huber C. and Wächtershäuser G. (1997). Activated Acetic Acid by Carbon Fixation on (Fe,Ni)S Under Primordial Conditions. Science 276: 245–247. Martin W. and Russell M. J. (2003). On the origins of cells: a hypothesis for the evolutionary transitions from abiotic geochemistry to chemoautotrophic prokaryotes, and from prokaryotes to nucleated cells. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 358: 59–83.

Zwart I. I., Meade S. J. and Pratt A. J. (2004). Biomimetic phosphoryl transfer catalysed by iron(II)-mineral precipitates. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68: 4093–4098. E-mail: andy.​pratt@canterbury.​ac.​nz Molecular Evolution else of the Interaction Between Prophage Genes and Their Prokaryotic Hosts: The Case of Sulfolobus spp Yetzi Robles, Arturo Becerra, Antonio Lazcano Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM Apto. Postal 70–407, Ciudad Universitaria, México, D. F. 04510, México In order to understand the evolutionary dynamics between bacteriophages and their prokaryotic hosts in terms of gene transfer and their maintenance in viral and hosts genomes, a comparative study was carried out. Two data bases were created with viral and celular genomes available in public data bases. Sequence comparisons were performed using BLAST between both data bases to identify homologs between viral and hosts proteins.