Bacteriophage-host interactions play a fundamental role in shaping microbial ecosystems. Although phage-host interactions have been extensively studied in terrestrial ecosystems, the impact of microgravity on phage-host interactions is yet to […]
bioRxiv
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
Hot Springs Viruses At Yellowstone National Park Have Ancient Origins And Are Adapted To Their Thermophilic Hosts
Geothermal springs in areas such as Yellowstone National Park (YNP), USA house unicellular red algae that dominate the microbial biomass. Little is known about the viruses that infect the biota.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Status Report
The Vacant Niche Revisited: Using Negative Results to Refine the Limits of Habitability
To define the boundaries of habitability, biologists often search for highly specialized organisms in extreme environments. However, negative life detections – when a method is unable to detect microorganisms in […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Coenzyme-Protein Interactions Since Early Life
Recent findings in protein evolution and peptide prebiotic plausibility have been setting the stage for reconsidering the role of peptides in the early stages of life’s origin.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
Metagenome Mining And Functional Analysis Reveal Oxidized Guanine DNA Repair At The Lost City Hydrothermal Field
The GO DNA repair system protects against GC → TC mutations by finding and removing oxidized guanine. The system is mechanistically well understood but its origins are unknown. We searched […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
RNA Folding Studies Inside Peptide-rich Droplets Reveal Roles Of Modified Nucleosides At The Origin Of Life
Compartmentalization of RNA in biopolymer-rich membraneless organelles is now understood to be pervasive and critical for the function of extant biology and has been proposed as a prebiotically-plausible way to […]
Posted inMissions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Distributed Compact Plasma Reactor Sterilization for Planetary Protection in Space Missions
This paper presents a proof-of-concept study establishing effectiveness of the Active Plasma Sterilizer (APS) for sterilization in planetary protection.
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Icy Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
An Update On Eukaryotic Viruses Revived From Ancient Permafrost
One quarter of the Northern hemisphere is underlain by permanently frozen ground, referred to as permafrost.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Metabolic Homeostasis And Growth In Abiotic Cells
Metabolism constitutes the core chemistry of life. How it began on the early Earth and whether it had a cellular origin is still uncertain.
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors
Tricorder Tech: A Universal Sequencing Read Interpreter – INTERSTELLAR (interpretation, scalable transformation, and emulation of large-scale sequencing reads)
Massively parallel DNA sequencing has led to the rapid growth of highly multiplexed experiments in biology. Such experiments produce unique sequencing results that require specific analysis pipelines to decode highly […]