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 (O22&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...