[PNAS] The magnitude and shape of phenotypic variation depends on properties of the genotype-to-phenotype (GP) map, which itself can evolve over time. The evolution of GP maps is particularly interesting […]
Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Selection For Propagule Formation In Prebiotic Chemical Ecosystems
[biorxiv.org] Biological individuals on Earth today are cellular, but the simplest cells are too complex to have arisen spontaneously.
![Overview of the PlainMap mapping workflow. PlainMap processes heterogeneous FASTQ input through header-based pairing inference, pilot subsampling and deterministic chunking, fastp preprocessing, mode-specific mapping, BAM processing, and summary-statistic generation. Optional outputs include mapDamage analyses and FASTQ files containing unmapped reads. -- [q-bio.GN]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/PlainMap.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
PlainMap: A Lightweight, Restartable Mapping Pipeline For Ancient And Modern DNA
[q-bio.GN] Mapping sequencing reads to a reference genome requires preprocessing and alignment choices that can vary with library type, fragment length, sequencing platform, and reference genome.
Posted inBiophysics
Balance Between Order and Disorder: Quantum-Epigenetic Pathways for the Emergence and Continuous Evolution of Life
[Acta Biotheoretica] The scientific restlessness surrounding the question of what life is (expressed in the provocations of Feynman and Schrödinger) guides this review article by integrating physics, chemistry, and biology […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Deep Shifts In Evolutionary Rate Trajectories Of Ancient Bacterial Genes
[biorxiv.org] Reconstruction of ancestral gene repertoires from extant genomes captures only the genes that survived; those lost from the record are invisible. Among the genes that did persist, selective pressures […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
An Integrated Culturomic And Genomic Database And Analysis Platform For Methanogenic Archaea
[Database] Methanogenic archaea research is challenged by limited strain resources, fragmented genomic data, inconsistent genome quality, substantial uncultured lineages, and difficulties in laboratory culturing, hindering advances in biogas production, climate […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
A Genomic Catalog Of Earth’s Bacterial And Archaeal Symbionts
[Nature Biotechnology] Microbial symbiosis drives the functional and phylogenomic diversification of life on Earth yet remains underexplored because of culturing challenges.
Posted inBiophysics
How A Deep-sea Protein Adapts To An Extreme Environment
[Kyushu University] Life in the deep sea is under immense pressure—literally. Such extreme conditions can disrupt the delicate structures of proteins essential to life. Yet somehow, the proteins in deep-sea […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
The History Of Enzyme Evolution Embedded In Metabolism
[PNAS]. Whereas phylogenetic reconstructions are a primary record of protein evolution, it is unknown whether the deep history of enzymes is encoded at higher levels of biological organization.
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Structure Of An RNA polymerase Ribozyme Replication Complex
[biorxiv.org] Life began with the emergence of a molecule that could replicate its own genetic material, a task plausibly mediated by an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase ribozyme.