RNA Archives

Sediment core sampling procedure adapted from the expedition’s press release (Schmidt Ocean Institute, SOI), licensed under CC BY 4.0 -- CAB

Analog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

New Sulfur-dependent Ecosystem In A Gas Vent In The Depths Of The Chilean Pacific

by Keith CowingMay 7, 2026May 7, 2026

Unlike most similar emanations described to date, this one shows no evidence of methane emission or consumption. The absence of this molecule and its abundance of sulfur make it a […]

Biophysics, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Radiation, Space Weather & Heliophysics, Status Report

Flare-driven Habitability: Expanding Life’s Potential Around Low-mass Stars

by Keith CowingMay 2, 2026May 2, 2026

The traditional definition of the circumstellar habitable zone (HZ) focuses on liquid water, but neglects the crucial role of ultraviolet (UV) radiation in prebiotic chemistry.

These high-resolution pre-catalysis RNA Pol II EC structures also define the reaction-ready configuration of a complete active site. The 1.96 Å cryo-EM map reveals an unambiguous density of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) substrate with a chair-like triphosphate conformation that is precisely coordinated with two Mg2+ ions. [Full video] Molecular Cell

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Water Molecules Found To Actively Drive Gene Transcription ProcessUniversity of California – San Diego

by Keith CowingMay 1, 2026May 1, 2026

Researchers have uncovered a previously hidden layer of complexity in how genes are activated, showing that water molecules play a direct and essential role in one of the most fundamental […]

Cyanobacterial crusts in the stratosphere during light exposure -- Microorganisms via PubMed

Analog Studies, Cryobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Panspermia, Press Release, Radiation, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Tricorders & Sensors

Responses of Cyanobacterial Crusts and Microbial Communities to Extreme Environments of the Stratosphere

by Keith CowingMay 1, 2026May 1, 2026

How microbial communities respond to extreme conditions in the stratosphere remains unclear.

Calculated total spin vector and its direction. Spin polarization illustrated by S (blue arrow) for a spin-orbit perturbed p-like excited state in the molecule studied in (8). A weak magnetic field along the x axis is applied to resolve the states. Here, the z axis points at the viewer. Reproduced from (19).-- Science Advances

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Panspermia, Status Report

Understanding Life And Homochirality

by Keith CowingApril 29, 2026April 29, 2026

Two fundamental questions have puzzled scientists for more than 150 years. “How did life become homochiral?” and “why was this specific handedness selected?”

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Sample Return, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Tricorder Tech: DIYNAFLUOR: An Affordable DIY Plug-and-Play Nucleic Acid Fluorometer for eDNA Quantification in Resource Limited Settings

by Keith CowingApril 27, 2026April 28, 2026

Editor’s note: with recent speculation about the potential habitability of other worlds and understanding the processes whereby other biospheres arise and evolve, thought needs to be given to developing sensor […]

Overview. (a) Composition of a bacterial cell by weight, with a breakdown of the chemical constituents [21]. About 40% of these compounds are not properly covered in existing datasets. (b) Multi-step workflow used to construct QCell, beginning with the selection of building blocks, followed by conformational sampling and fragment selection, pre-optimization with DFTB+MBD, and finally hybrid PBE0+MBD(-NL) calculations. (c) Coverage of molecular species at the PBE0+MBD(-NL) level of theory, including entries from existing databases and newly generated QCell data for nucleic acid fragments, lipids, sugars, solvated ions, and dimers. -- AI for Science

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Mapping The Molecules Of Life: Expanding The Quantum-mechanical Foundation For Biomolecular AI

by Keith CowingApril 22, 2026April 22, 2026

Machine learning force fields (MLFFs) are rapidly transforming molecular simulations by combining the accuracy of quantum mechanics with the speed of classical approaches. However, training reliable MLFFs for biological systems […]

A Overlay of the base binding pockets of MAN (AlphaFold3 structure AF-A0A2T5C445-F1-v4)77 and CHU (PDB ID 6AN9)19. Conserved residues other than H118, R117, and N138 that mediate binding are not drawn. Sequence differences in the primary base binding pocket are drawn as cyan and magenta sticks for CHU and MAN, respectively. Sequence differences involving residues that point away from the base binding pocket and were not characterized further are shown as yellow sticks. AF3 models of MAN bound to all four nucleotides are presented in Supplementary Fig. 10. Additional sequence information can be found in Fig. 1C. B Characterization of position 138. Note that activities are normalized to MAN activity, indicated by the fuchsia outer ring. C Characterization of base binding site chimeras. Refer to the main text for more details. D Overlay of the polyphosphate binding track, following the coloring conventions in (A). E Characterization of polyphosphate binding site chimera. C and E report the percentage of NTP production. Plotted values are the average of 4 independent runs. Error bars are standard deviations. Source data for this figure is available in the Source Data file. 00 Institute of Science Tokyo

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Press Release

Discovery Of A Universal Enzyme That Makes All Four Nucleotide Building Blocks Of Life

by Keith CowingApril 15, 2026April 15, 2026

A bacterial enzyme called universal PPK2 may simplify and lower the cost of RNA synthesis.

Energetics associated with the occupancy of the K1 site and the position of the M2 ion. (A) Free energy surface of the concerted motions of Prp11 Lys10 and M2, with the initial PDB conformation marked by a yellow star. (B–D) Representative structures of three metastable states from metadynamics simulations. State 1 (B) represents a PDB-like arrangement where Lys10 (slate blue sticks) remains at the K1 site, and M2 (yellow sphere) is properly positioned at the U6 snRNA triple-helix (yellow cartoon). State 2 (C): Lys10 leaves the K1 site, allowing a K+ ion to occupy it and stabilize M2 in place. State 3 (D): M2 directly coordinates G52, losing its catalytic position and partially occupying the K1 site. -- PNAS

Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Status Report

Computational Chemistry And Supercomputers To Help Understand The Mechanisms Of Life

by Keith CowingApril 13, 2026April 13, 2026

A new study from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), in collaboration with Uppsala University (Sweden) and AstraZeneca, shows how computational chemistry and supercomputers can help scientists better understand the […]

Evidence for ribozyme mass extinction. (A) Abundance distribution across all ten known small self-cleaving ribozyme families, showing the hammerhead's 91% dominance, a pattern characteristic of disaster taxa following mass extinction events. (B) Circular phylogeny of 80,548 unique hammerhead sequences colored by host taxonomic group. The star-like topology is consistent with post-bottleneck radiation, and the interspersion of distantly related host phyla around the tree reflects repeated independent colonization events rather than co-speciation, consistent with horizontal transfer of a single dominant survivor lineage. (C) Null distribution tests for Tajima's D (left) and Fu's Fs (right), each based on 10,000 coalescent replicates (n = 200, S = 40). Blue and orange histograms show the null distributions under neutral expectations; red dashed lines indicate the observed values (D = +2.28, upper-tail p = 0.013; Fs = −618.0, p < 0.0001). Observed D falls in the extreme upper tail (98.7% of null replicates below observed), indicating deep hierarchical structure; observed Fs falls far below any null replicate, indicating massive haplotype excess. The discordance between positive D and extremely negative Fs is diagnostic of ancient divergence preserved through a bottleneck followed by rapid within-lineage expansion. Full-sample values (n = 5,036) are D = +3.79, Fs = −690.8. -- biorxiv.org

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report

A Ribozyme Mass Extinction At The RNA-cellular Boundary And Its Potential Imprint On The Genetic Code

by Keith CowingApril 13, 2026April 13, 2026

The transition from the RNA world to cellular life remains one of the least understood events in the history of biology.

RNA

New Sulfur-dependent Ecosystem In A Gas Vent In The Depths Of The Chilean Pacific

Flare-driven Habitability: Expanding Life’s Potential Around Low-mass Stars

Water Molecules Found To Actively Drive Gene Transcription ProcessUniversity of California – San Diego

Responses of Cyanobacterial Crusts and Microbial Communities to Extreme Environments of the Stratosphere

Understanding Life And Homochirality

Tricorder Tech: DIYNAFLUOR: An Affordable DIY Plug-and-Play Nucleic Acid Fluorometer for eDNA Quantification in Resource Limited Settings

Mapping The Molecules Of Life: Expanding The Quantum-mechanical Foundation For Biomolecular AI

Discovery Of A Universal Enzyme That Makes All Four Nucleotide Building Blocks Of Life

Computational Chemistry And Supercomputers To Help Understand The Mechanisms Of Life

A Ribozyme Mass Extinction At The RNA-cellular Boundary And Its Potential Imprint On The Genetic Code

Impact Crater Hydrothermal Systems Support Rapid Microbial Enrichment and Diverse Metabolic Potential

Photometric and Spectroscopic Observations of Comet 2P/Encke’s Nucleus in the Mid-Infrared Wavelength Region

A New Method Maps An Exoplanet’s True Shape

Wavefront-Conditioned Photon Measurements for Exoplanet Spectroscopy: Contrast Limits and Conditional Gains

ExoPAG 35 – Early Career Talks Invitation