Research that will make it easier for us to find aliens

Life on Earth is formed as a result of the interaction of hundreds of chemical components and reactions. Some of these compounds and reactions are found in all organisms and create a universal biochemistry that applies to all life on earth. However, this concept of universality is specific to known biochemistry and has not yet with unobserved examples does not allow the execution of relevant estimates.

In response to this, the search for extraterrestrial life form until now, this definition of ‘life form’ on Earth that we talked about has been carried out as a reference. For astrobiologists looking for life on other planets“the life we ​​don’t know” There were no tools for estimating its properties. However, with a new study, scientists have identified the universal patterns in the chemistry of life that do not depend on specific molecules, and thus overcome this limitation. overcome managed to come.

A new opportunity to identify features of alien life

The findings of the research are used to predict the characteristics of alien life with different biochemistry from life on Earth. a new opportunity is said to be able to offer.

Lead author of the study, Dylan Gagler, a bioinformatics analyst at New York University Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, became interested in universal biology out of a desire to better grasp the phenomenon of life. Stating that determining the phenomenon of life is an extremely difficult concept, Gagler said, “As far as I can tell, life is ultimately It is a biochemical process, So I wanted to explore what life does at this level.” saves as.

To that end, Gagler and another co-author of the study, Sara Imari Walker, associate professor in the School of Earth and Space Studies and the School of Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University, explained that the functional drivers of biochemistry are of enzymes they decided it was a good way to approach this concept. Using the Integrated Microbial Genomes and Microbiomes database, they, together with their collaborators, investigated the enzymatic makeup of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, thus Much of the Earth’s biochemistry they were able to detect it.

A new definition of ‘universal biochemical structure’ has been made

“To describe and even predict aspects of life that we do not know to new vehicles We want to have” Walker using the expressions“To do this, it must be applied to any biochemical system. universal laws We aim to determine This includes developing quantitative theory for the origins of life and guiding our search for life on other planets It involves using theory and statistics for conveys the form. Stating that humans are not just composed of molecules that are part of their bodies, Walker notes that their work aims to develop ways to turn this philosophical understanding into a testable scientific hypothesis.

Building on this approach, the research team has created a new species by identifying statistical patterns in the biochemical function of enzymes shared across the tree of life. universal biochemical structure definition managed to discover.

Study could guide search for new life examples

“We identified this new kind of biochemical universality from large-scale statistical models of biochemistry, and that they are more closely related to unknown life forms compared to the traditional one defined by certain molecules and reactions common to all life on Earth. generalizable We saw that they were. ” Hyunju Kim, the co-author of the study using the expressions, is in search of new life examples for the general rules of life of this discovery. able to guide He states that it enabled them to develop a new theory.

Co-author Chris Kempes of the Santa Fe Institute “These results anywhere in the universe We can expect it to hold true, and this is an exciting possibility that will motivate many interesting studies in the future.” saves as.