Life 2011, 1(1), 9-18; doi:10.3390/life1010009
Article

DNA Movies and Panspermia

Victor Norris 1,* email and Yohann Grondin 2 email
1 EA 3829, Department of Biology, University of Rouen, 76821 Mont Saint Aignan, France 2 Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, 02115 Boston, MA, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 14 September 2011; in revised form: 8 October 2011 / Accepted: 18 October 2011 / Published: 20 October 2011
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Origin of Life - Feature Papers)
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Abstract: There are several ways that our species might try to send a message to another species separated from us by space and/or time. Synthetic biology might be used to write an epitaph to our species, or simply “Kilroy was here”, in the genome of a bacterium via the patterns of either (1) the codons to exploit Life's non-equilibrium character or (2) the bases themselves to exploit Life's quasi-equilibrium character. We suggest here how DNA movies might be designed using such patterns. We also suggest that a search for mechanisms to create and preserve such patterns might lead to a better understanding of modern cells. Finally, we argue that the cutting-edge microbiology and synthetic biology needed for the Kilroy project would put origin-of-life studies in the vanguard of research.
Keywords: origins of life; translation; hyperstructure; Pioneer; cholesteric phase

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MDPI and ACS Style

Norris, V.; Grondin, Y. DNA Movies and Panspermia. Life 2011, 1, 9-18.

AMA Style

Norris V, Grondin Y. DNA Movies and Panspermia. Life. 2011; 1(1):9-18.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Norris, Victor; Grondin, Yohann. 2011. "DNA Movies and Panspermia." Life 1, no. 1: 9-18.

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