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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.

Yes, this has recently been done, I've bloged about it (in German) here:
http://scienceblogs.de/hier-wohnen-drachen/2014/05/25/neue-buchstaben-fuer-die-dna/

The new DNA letters are replicated, but they do not code for proteins
(for this, you would have to design a t-RNA that is linked to some
amino acid), so they are not functional.

(references to the relevant nature articles are given).

Martin.



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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                   Institut für Werkstoffe
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