![The origin of life is the first, arguably, the most important and also the most enigmatic major transition in evolution (MTE). [q-bio.PE]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/The-first.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
[q-bio.PE] As all MTE, the transition at the origin of life can be constructively addressed only within the conceptual framework of multilevel selection. The two levels of selection relevant for […]
genomics
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
RNA Droplets May Have Helped Start life on Earth
[University at Buffalo] It’s one of the origins of life’s chicken-or-the-egg problems: How could RNA have helped give rise to the first cells before there were cells to contain them?
![Effects of physicochemical stressors on the main categories of cellular macromolecules (see Table 1 for further details; figure uses images from Servier Medical Art). Multiple stressors can induce the same primary effect, therefore adaptations in response to a natural selection pressure for one stressor may render the same organism resistant to all stressors producing the same type of damage. White stars indicate chemical processes that are aggravated in the presence of oxygen due to altered system chemistry, meaning that in anoxic environments such effects are reduced or negligible. -- [FEMS Microbes]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Extremophiles-Life-resists.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Extremophiles: Life Resists Chemistry Not Conditions
[FEMS Microbes] Extremophiles are used to study both the limits of life and its potential elsewhere. Categories are commonly employed to describe extreme conditions, however, changing the focus to the […]
![Selection on a collective trait drives the origin of heredity. (A) Intracellular 5 competition drives the dominance of the red plasmid when fluorescence is enforced (left-hand panel) while poor inheritance and carriage costs purge the ancestral plasmid population entirely when no selective gate is used (right-hand panel). Coloured zones show the proportion of the population in each colour class through 21 cycles: red only, green only, yellow (red plus green), white (cells without fluorescence). -- [biorxiv.org]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Forging.png?resize=1200%2C718&ssl=1)
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Forging An Evolutionary Individual From Separate Replicators
[biorxiv.org] A central puzzle in the evolution of individuality is the origin of heredity. Egalitarian transitions integrate formerly independent replicators into a higher-level individual, but this requires the collective to […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Concurrent Phosphite Oxidation And Adenosine Phosphorylation Under Prebiotic Evaporative Conditions
[Journal of Molecular Evolution] Here, we investigate the concurrent oxidation of phosphite and phosphorylation/phosphonylation of adenosine under prebiotically plausible conditions.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry
Chemically Modified Sugars As Multifunctional Precursors For Direct, Template-Free Synthesis Of Nanoporous Carbonaceous Materials
[JACS] Carbonaceous solids with pores in the nanometer domain are of great technological importance owing to their amenability to sorption/separation, catalysis, and electrochemical applications.
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics
Autonomous Multi-Agent Reconstruction of Prebiotic Reaction Networks Reveals Organizational Features of Amino Acid Synthesis
[chemrxiv.org] Decades of origin-of-life research have uncovered hundreds of prebiotically plausible reactions across hydrothermal, surface, and biochemical environments, yet this knowledge remains fragmented across chemistry, geochemistry, and astrobiology. Here we […]
![Graphical illustration showing planetary bodies (not to scale) where H2O2 has been detected, the major production pathways of H2O2, and its role in a few examples of prebiotic chemical networks. -- [Fundamental Research]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Hydrogen-peroxide-1.png?resize=1200%2C716&ssl=1)
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Hydrogen Peroxide On Mars And Icy Moons: Implications For The Search For Extraterrestrial Signatures Of Prebiotic Chemistry
[Fundamental Research]. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is increasingly recognized as an important molecule in prebiotic chemistry that potentially had a large impact on life’s early evolution.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Molecular Assembly As A Universal Biosignature Measurable By Mass Spectrometry
[PNAS] Detecting life beyond Earth requires biosignatures that do not depend on the chemistry of known organisms.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Biosignature Reservoirs In The Rozel Point Tar Seeps At Great Salt Lake, Utah
[Frontiers in Microbiology] On the north shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA, naturally occurring tar seeps at Rozel Point provide an opportunity to study a petroleum-rich environment adjacent to […]