Ecologists are increasingly using traces of genetic material left behind by living organisms left behind in the environment, called environmental DNA (eDNA), to catalogue and monitor biodiversity. Based on these […]
Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Interstellar, Status Report
A Sequential Acid-base (SAB) Mechanism In The Interstellar Medium: The Emergence Of Cis Formic Acid In Dark Molecular Clouds
The abundance ratios between isomers of a COM observed in the ISM provides valuable information about the chemistry and physics of the gas and eventually, the history of molecular clouds.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Interstellar, Status Report
A Search For Mid-IR Bands Of Amino Acids In The Perseus Molecular Cloud
Amino acids are building-blocks of proteins, basic constituents of all organisms and essential to life on Earth.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Protobiotic Network Reproducers Are Compositional Attractors: Enhanced Probability for Life’s Origin
The origin of life must have involved an unlikely transition from chaotic chemistry to reproducing supramolecular structures.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
A Prebiotic Basis For ATP As The Universal Energy Currency
ATP is universally conserved as the principal energy currency in cells, driving metabolism through phosphorylation and condensation reactions. Such deep conservation suggests that ATP arose at an early stage of […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
ACEs In Spaces: Autocatalytic Chemical Ecosystems In Spatial Settings
Autocatalysis is thought to have played an important role in the earliest stages of the origin of life. An autocatalytic cycle’s (AC) constituent chemicals can collectively catalyze their own recreation.
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Space Life Science, Space Stations, Tricorders & Sensors, Video, Audio, Webcasts, Podcasts
Away Team Tech: Self-Contained Device Isolates Biological Samples
Overview JSC is looking to interested parties to license and commercialize this patented technology. Innovators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) developed a patented self-contained device for isolating deoxyribonucleic acid […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Radiation
Fatty Acid Vesicles As Hard UV-C Shields for Early Life
Theories on life’s origin generally acknowledge the advantage of a semi-permeable vesicle (protocell) for enhancing the chemical reaction-diffusion processes involved in abiogenesis.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
2.6 Billion-year-old Ancestors Of The CRISPR Gene-editing Tool Have Been Resurrected
An international research group has for the first time reconstructed ancestors dating back 2.6 billion years of the well-known CRISPR-Cas system, and studied their evolution over time.
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microgravity, Plant Biology, Press Release, Space Agriculture, Space Life Science, Space Stations
Plant Actin Cytoskeleton And Microgravity
The cytoskeleton is a network of thread-like proteins in plant and animal cells that carries out key functions in many biological processes.