Claudia Alvarez

Origins of Life, origins of folded domains, protein evolution

By analyzing proteins of the translation systems from Archaea and Bacteria, I will study the mechanism by which folded protein domains were discovered. To this aim, I will use and develop methods grounded in three-dimensional structure and phylogenetic analyses for reading information stored within the ribosome. I will investigate: the nature and distribution of rRNA protein interactions at different phases of ribosomal evolution; folding and functionality of polypeptide at each stage of ribosomal evolution; and the transition from polypeptide secondary structure elements to the first folded domains.