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Re: exobiology possibilities



Has anyone ever tried to implant one of these other froms of nucleartide
based DNA trees into bacteria and see if it would take?  More often then
not, these models aren't so simple.  The stereometric ATGC is very tight
and works well with RNA, which was likely older.  We already have two
sets of nuclear tides as it is.

sometimes I thik the role of DNA in evolution and in life is over blown.
i know, it is a strange thought but I have it.  And I've had it since
basic biology.

Ruben

On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 07:55:09AM -0400, Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. wrote:
> On the contrary: we have every reason to think that all life on Earth studied 
> so far are descendants of a single instance of life, and every reason to 
> dismiss the possibility that any known terrestrial life is of independent 
> origin. A good reason for this is the fact that A, T, C & G are NOT the only 
> possible nucleotides.  Furthermore people have synthesized nucleic acid 
> analogues in the lab that work essentially like DNA and RNA but which have 
> different backbones. The fact that all living things use only the one system 
> when there are numerous alternatives which are seemingly just as likely 
> points to a common origin. Statistically, we would expect alien life will  
> like have DNA/RNA analogues using other nucleotides and/or backbones, if 
> indeed they used these forms of molecules as the carrier of genetic 
> information.
> 
> The Lost City microbes fall within the family tree of other life, and use the 
> same genetic carriers in the same fashion the rest of Earth life does.
> 
> Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
> Email: tholtz@umd.edu Phone: 301-405-4084
> Office: Centreville 1216                      
> Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
> Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
> http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
> Fax: 301-314-9661             
> 
> Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
> http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
> Fax: 301-314-9843
> 
> Mailing Address:      Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
>                       Department of Geology
>                       Building 237, Room 1117
>                       University of Maryland
>                       College Park, MD 20742 USA
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] On Behalf Of 
> > Ruben Safir
> > Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 4:17 AM
> > To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> > Subject: exobiology possibilities
> > 
> > http://finance.yahoo.com/news/discovery-one-saturns-moons-just-182029759.html
> > 
> > This article is worth reading only because it point to the possibility of 
> > an independent evolution of life, which brings up a question I
> > have long had.
> > 
> > We really don't know if all life on this planet comes from a single 
> > continuous linage.  The organism that exist in the lost city might not
> > be related to anything on the planet.  And similarly, is possible that 
> > flowering plants, as an example, some from several branches of
> > plant life, in a form of convergence where closely related specifies 
> > simultaneously develop like features, even controlled by similar
> > haplans and control genes?
> > 
> > Why should the course of evolution be simple?
> > 
> > 
> > Ruben
> > 

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