Life, Volume 9, Issue 3

Condensation reactions between biomolecular building blocks are the main synthetic channels to build biopolymers. However, under highly diluted prebiotic conditions, condensations are thermodynamically hampered since they release water. Moreover, the...

Naked mole-rats are eusocial, hairless mammals that are uniquely adapted to their harsh, low-oxygen subsurface habitat. Although their encephalization quotient, a controversial marker of intelligence, is low, they exhibit many features considered tel...

The goal of our research is the development of algorithmic tools for the analysis of chemical reaction networks proposed as models of biological homochirality. We focus on two algorithmic problems: detecting whether or not a chemical mechanism admits...

Microfossil evidence indicates that cellular life on Earth emerged during the Paleoarchean era be-tween 3 [...]

At present, the study of diverse habitable environments of astrobiological interest has become a major challenge. Due to the obvious technical and economical limitations on in situ exploration, laboratory simulations are one of the most feasible rese...

The potential impact of climate change on eukaryotes, including humans, has been relatively well described. In contrast, the contribution and susceptibility of microorganisms to a changing climate have, until recently, received relatively less attent...

We describe the design of an instrument, the OxR (for Oxygen Release), for the enzymatically specific and non-enzymatic detection and quantification of the reactive oxidant species (ROS), superoxide radicals (O₂^•−), and peroxides (O₂^2&minu...

The early metabolism arising in a Thioester world gave rise to amino acids and their simple peptides. The catalytic activity of these early simple peptides became instrumental in the transition from Thioester World to a Phosphate World. This transiti...

The growth of a population of protocells requires that the two key processes of replication of the protogenetic material and reproduction of the whole protocell take place at the same rate. While in many ODE-based models such synchronization spontane...

Systemic analysis of stress-induced transcription in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 identifies a number of genes as being induced in response to most abiotic stressors (heat, osmotic, saline, acid stress, strong light, and ultra...

A key aspect of biological evolution is the capacity of living systems to process information, coded in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and used to direct how the cell works. The overall picture that emerges today from fields such as developmental, synt...

In RNA-World scenarios for the origin of life, replication is catalyzed by polymerase ribozymes. Replicating RNA systems are subject to invasion by non-functional parasitic strands. It is well-known that there are two ways to avoid the destruction of...

One approach to understanding how life-like properties emerge involves building synthetic cellular systems that mimic certain dynamical features of living cells such as bacteria. Here, we developed a model of a reaction network in a cellular system i...

Terrestrial hot springs have provided a niche space for microbial communities throughout much of Earth’s history, and evidence for hydrothermal deposits on the Martian surface suggest this could have also been the case for the red planet. Prior...

Organic compounds are present as complex mixtures in extraterrestrial materials including meteorites, which may have played important roles in the origin of life on the primitive Earth. However, the distribution and formation mechanisms of meteoritic...

Plant production is crucial for space journeys self-autonomy by contributing to the dietary intake necessary to sustain the physical and psychological well-being of space colonists, as well as for contributing to atmospheric revitalization, water pur...

Systems Chemistry investigates the upkeep of specific interactions of an exceptionally broad choice of objects over longer periods of time than the average time of existence of the objects themselves. This maintenance of a dynamic state focuses on co...

The discovery of the genetic roots of various human diseases has motivated the exploration of different exogenous nucleic acids as therapeutic agents to treat these genetic disorders (inherited or acquired). However, the physicochemical properties of...

The genetic code defines how information in the genome is translated into protein. Aside from a handful of isolated exceptions, this code is universal. Researchers have developed techniques to artificially expand the genetic code, repurposing codons...

Polymerization of nucleotides under prebiotically plausible conditions has been a focus of several origins of life studies. Non-activated nucleotides have been shown to undergo polymerization under geothermal conditions when subjected to dry-wet cycl...

Living systems employ both covalent chemistry and physical assembly to achieve complex behaviors. The emerging field of systems chemistry, inspired by these biological systems, attempts to construct and analyze systems that are simpler than biology,...

In extant biology, biopolymers perform multiple crucial functions. The biopolymers are synthesized by enzyme-controlled biosystems that would not have been available at the earliest stages of chemical evolution and consist of correctly sequenced and/...

In recent years, metabolic engineering of microorganisms has attained much research interest to produce biofuels and industrially pertinent chemicals. Owing to the relatively fast growth rate, genetic malleability, and carbon neutral production proce...