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Eric Murtfeldt




Eric Murtfeldt

Research Assistant
Jun 2007 – present
MS., 2008, UCSD
Research: Self-replicating ribozymes
E-mail: murtfeld@scripps.edu

 

The system of self-replicating RNA enzymes is being used to explore how selection pressure can drive evolutionary changes at the molecular level. Defined populations of replicators are constructed, each variant in the population containing a unique “genotype” that encodes a corresponding catalytic “phenotype”.  The genotype is transmitted to progeny molecules through the replication process, but only those genotypes that encode advantageous phenotypes persist through many generations of selective amplification.

Over the course of evolution, the composition of the population changes based on the starting conditions, the nature of the selection pressure, and the opportunity for new variants to arise through mutation. The resulting molecular phylogeny is characterized at multiple points during its evolutionary history through RNA sequencing and kinetic analyses, relating the fitness of individual variants to that of the population as a whole. This provides a deeper understanding of the key parameters that influence population dynamics and evolutionary outcomes.

 

Murtfeldt Figure 1

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