NASA Press Conference Today About Astrobiology 2 p.m. EST

[sharon sanders]

Details Leaking About NASA Statement



snip

NASA has scheduled the 2 p.m. press conference to announce a major "Astrobiology" development. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe..

The blogosphere has already analyzed the academic background of the experts at the conference.


The consensus is that the experts are specialists in microbiology and one person is an expert on arsenic-based life forms.


snip


http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/120110-details-leaking-about-nasa-statement

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: NASA Press Conference Today About Astrobiology 2 p.m. EST

Link to NASA http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Click on the public channel in the right hand side panel

 

[JJackson]

Re: NASA Press Conference Today About Astrobiology 2 p.m. EST

Very cool a bacterial extreemophile from Mona Lake that substitutes Arsnic for Phospherous in it nucleaic acid backbone - or so they think.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: NASA Press Conference Today About Astrobiology 2 p.m. EST

A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus (Science, abstract, edited)


[Source: Science, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]

Published Online 2 December 2010

Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1197258


A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus

1. Felisa Wolfe-Simon1,2,*,
2. Jodi Switzer Blum2,
3. Thomas R. Kulp2,
4. Gwyneth W. Gordon3,
5. Shelley E. Hoeft2,
6. Jennifer Pett-Ridge4,
7. John F. Stolz5,
8. Samuel M. Webb6,
9. Peter K. Weber4,
10. Paul C. W. Davies1,7,
11. Ariel D. Anbar1,3,8 and
12. Ronald S. Oremland2

- Author Affiliations

1. NASA Astrobiology Institute, USA.
2. U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
3. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
4. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA.
5. Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
6. Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
7. BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
8. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.

1. *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: felisawolfesimon@gmail.com


Abstract

Life is mostly composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus. Although these six elements make up nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids and thus the bulk of living matter, it is theoretically possible that some other elements in the periodic table could serve the same functions. Here, we describe a bacterium, strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae, isolated from Mono Lake, California, which substitutes arsenic for phosphorus to sustain its growth. Our data show evidence for arsenate in macromolecules that normally contain phosphate, most notably nucleic acids and proteins. Exchange of one of the major bioelements may have profound evolutionary and geochemical significance.

* Received for publication 1 September 2010.
* Accepted for publication 8 November 2010.
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[Sally Furniss]

Re: NASA Press Conference Today About Astrobiology 2 p.m. EST

The periodic table of videos: Arsenic

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