Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

234 | Tobias Warnecke on Cellular Structure and Evolution

Apr 24, 2023

Tobias Warnecke, a Programme Leader at the London Institute of Medical Sciences, shares fascinating insights into cellular structure and evolution. He discusses groundbreaking evidence of histones in bacteria, challenging traditional views on DNA organization. The conversation delves into the evolution of eukaryotes from archaea and how genome sequencing sheds light on life's complexity. Warnecke also explores genetic transfer mechanisms, emphasizing their implications for understanding life's origins and advancements in synthetic biology.

01:06:41

Episode guests

Tobias Warnecke

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Understanding Genetic Material and Classification of Living Organisms

01:27

Intro

5min

Unraveling Eukaryotic Evolution

11min

Understanding the Differences Between Archaea and Bacteria

2min

Evolving Insights: Archaea and Eukaryotes

14min

The Complexities of DNA Protection and Accessibility

2min

The Complexity of Cellular Metabolic Pathways

2min

DNA, Histones, and Cellular Evolution

23min

The Dynamics of Genetic Transfer

8min

Eukaryotic cells manage to pull off a number of remarkable feats. One is packing quite a long DNA molecule, with potentially billions of base pairs, into a tiny central nucleus. A key role is played by histones, proteins that provide scaffolding for DNA to wrap around. Histones also appear in archaea (one of the other domains of life), but until recently there wasn't evidence for them in bacteria (the final of the three domains). Todays guest, Tobias Warnecke, is an author on a recent paper that claims to provide such evidence. We discuss this new result, as well as background questions of how cells evolved and what their current structure can teach us about their histories.

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Tobias Warnecke received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Bath. He is currently a Programme Leader and MRC Investigator at the London Institute of Medical Sciences. He is a co-author on A. Hochner et al. (2023), "Histone-Organized Chromatin in Bacteria."

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