Eukaryotes originated from the symbiosis of an Asgard archaeon, the alphaproteobacterial ancestor of mitochondria, and possibly additional bacterial contributions.
The timing of the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) remains a fundamental question in evolutionary biology and palaeontology. Unambiguous eukaryotic-grade fossils appear from 1780 Ma, but no crown-group supergroups are […]
The Hawaiian islands are among the most geologically and volcanically active places on Earth. While the Hawaiian Archipelago is known for its animal and plant diversity, much less is known […]
As human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, there is a growing need to study the effects of altered gravity on the microbial systems that we will […]
Proteins are built from 20 canonical amino acids. It is interesting to explore whether proteins can be formed from significantly reduced amino acid alphabets.
Synthetic living constructs, which lack the long histories of selection in ecological contexts that shape behaviors of conventional organisms, offer an important complement to traditional studies of learning.
Space-based platforms currently represent the most accurate means to experimentally assess the influence of the space environment on biological systems. However, performing such experiments remains technically challenging and requires highly […]
The error catastrophe refers to the proliferation of non-functional molecules in conditions where molecular replication has low accuracy, which is likely to correspond to conditions present at the Origin of […]
Ribozymes are relics of molecular life forms from the primitive earth that are embedded within modern genomes across all kingdoms of life. Despite significant knowledge from decades of bioinformatic and […]
During spaceflight, astronauts are exposed to extreme conditions such as microgravity, cosmic radiation, and confinement, which can cause a wide range of health problems.
