Andrei Lupas

Proteins influence our body functions, are responsible for the communication of our nerve cells, in short: control all processes of life.
But where do proteins come from? Is there an original protein on which all other proteins are based? And if so, how did its evolution proceed?

So far, 40 protein fragments have been identified that probably existed 3.5 billion years ago. In the course of evolution, these “Lego building blocks” of life then assembled in varying numbers and combinations to form innumerable protein variants, which are still working in us today. Once the code for proteins has been cracked, proteins could be optimised or even new ones developed. But what would be the consequences? Is a leap over natural evolution advisable?

The German-Romanian molecular biologist Prof. Dr. Andrei Lupas, born in 1963, is director of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, where he heads the Department of Protein Evolution.

In the series Origin of Life / Ursprung of life