QLS SEMINAR - Tuesday 19 March 14h30, Adriatico guest house

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

QUANTITATIVE LIFE SCIENCES GUEST SEMINAR

Tuesday, 19 March 2019 at 14:30
ICTP, Adriatico Guest House, Kastler lecture hall

Speaker: Mukund Thattai, NCBS Bangalore, India

Title: Algorithmic synthesis of complex biomolecules

  Abstract:
An algorithm converts inputs to corresponding unique outputs through a 
sequence of actions. Algorithms are used as metaphors for complex 
biological processes such as organismal development. Here we make this 
metaphor rigorous for the synthesis of the branched carbohydrates known 
as glycans. These molecules play a key role in conveying cellular 
identity and self/non-self information across all domains of life; for 
example, the famous A/B blood group antigens are glycans. In eukaryotic 
cells (including human cells) glycans are synthesized by collections of 
enzymes in a factory-line system of compartments known as the Golgi 
apparatus. The Golgi can stochastically convert a single input molecule 
to a heterogeneous set of possible outputs; yet in living cells the 
observed diversity of the outputs is very small. Here we resolve this 
paradox by borrowing from the theory of algorithmic self-assembly. For a 
large class of stochastic models, given an input and a target output we 
either prove that the output cannot be algorithmically synthesized from 
the input, or explicitly construct a succession of Golgi compartments 
that achieves this synthesis. Our theoretical analysis allows us to 
infer the causes of heterogeneity in real glycan datasets.

Everyone interested is most welcome to attend!

-- 
Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
www.ictp.it/research/qls.aspx
e-mail: qls at ictp.it