Special Issue "Feature Paper"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Helga Stan-Lotter
Division of Molecular Biology, Department of Microbiology, University of Salzburg, Billrothstrasse 11, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria
Website: http://www.uni-salzburg.at/portal/page?_pageid=146,66552&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
E-Mail: helga.stan-lotter@sbg.ac.at
Phone: +43 662 8044 7233
Fax: +43 662 8044 7209
Interests: extremophilic microorganism; archaea; halobacteria; desiccation; microbial longevity; subsurface environments; salt sediments; extraterrestrial halite; life detection methods

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Antonio Bianconi
Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Dipartimento di Fisica, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy
Website: http://www.roma1.infn.it/stripes/Menu/007GroupHome/cards/cardBianco.html
E-Mail: antonio.bianconi@roma1.infn.it
Phone: +39 06 49914405
Fax: +39 06 4957697
Interests: synchrotron radiation research; protein fluctuations; active sites of metalloproteins; origin of life; selected molecules in prebiotic world; quantum phenomena in complex matter; quantum confinement; superstripes in complex matter; lattice complexity in transition metal oxides; high Tc superconductors; valence fluctuation materials

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. For the first couple of issues the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Rise of Complexity: Do the Pavilion Lake Microbialites Suggest a Way to Build a Temperate Zone Microbial Community Ecosystem?
Authors: Dirk Schulze-Makuch, Darlene Lim, Bernard Laval, Louis Irwin, Carol Turse, Marina Resendes de Sousa António, Olivia Chan, Stephen B. Pointing and Donnie Reid
Affiliation: Washington State University, Webster Hall 1148, Pullman, WA 99164, USA; E-Mail: dirksm@wsu.edu
Abstract: A distinctive assemblage of freshwater calcite microbialites was studied at Pavilion Lake, British Columbia, Canada, through standard microbial methods, morphological observations, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, DNA sequencing, and the identification of quorum sensing molecules.  Our results suggest that the microbialites may represent a transitional form from the exclusively prokaryotic colonial precursors of the stromatolites to the multicellular organismic aggregates that give rise to coral reefs.  The microbialites of Pavilion Lake may represent a prototypical stage in the evolution of complexity on Earth and Mars.  Pavilion Lake microbialites have formed at cool to cold temperatures (generally between 0 and 10oC) and are thus more compatible to the formation of analogous microbialites on other worlds at colder temperatures, which characterize most of the other planetary bodies of our Solar System.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Chemical Origin of Behavior is Rooted in Abiogenesis
Authors: Brian C. Larson, Robert Jensen and Niles Lehman
Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Portland State University / P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207, USA; E-Mails: bclarson@pdx.edu (B. L.); jensen3@pdx.edu (R. J.); niles@pdx.edu (N. L)
Abstract: We describe the initial realization of behavior in the biosphere, which we term behavioral chemistry. If molecules are complex enough to attain a stochastic element to their structural conformation in such as way as to radically affect their function in a biological (evolvable) setting, then they have the capacity to behave. This circumstance is described here as behavioral chemistry unique in its definition from the colloquial chemical behavior. This transition between chemical behavior and behavioral chemistry need be explicit when discussing the root cause of behavior, which itself lies squarely at the origins of life, and is the foundation of choice. RNA polymers of sufficient length meet the criteria for behavioral chemistry and therefore are capable of making a choice.