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Post by gyeonghwa on Dec 2, 2010 18:19:33 GMT -5
The bacterias are extremophiles. I think from the research they sub phosphate for aresenate when it's needed.
That's pretty cool actually. What would happen if eukaryotes could do that?
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Post by booley on Dec 2, 2010 18:35:01 GMT -5
The bacterias are extremophiles. I think from the research they sub phosphate for aresenate when it's needed. That's pretty cool actually. What would happen if eukaryotes could do that? I am wondering if this means there were was more then one abiogenesis on Earth? I should also point out that this isn't so far fetched. A scientific American did a story on alternative biochemistry. Arsenic replacing phosphorus was one scenario.
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Post by Sigmaleph on Dec 2, 2010 18:44:51 GMT -5
From what I've read, most likely this doesn't point to a second abiogenesis. I mean, the bacteria have DNA (if occasionally with arsenic instead of phosphorus), the odds of that appearing twice can't be too good.
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Post by arrowdeath on Dec 2, 2010 20:37:37 GMT -5
Clearly, they were originally going to expose the presence of Reptilians and Greys on Earth, but they were stopped at the last minute by the Illuminati. Thanks, Question, we'll call when we need you again. ...I miss JLU again...
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Post by Tiger on Dec 2, 2010 20:57:08 GMT -5
From what I've read, most likely this doesn't point to a second abiogenesis. I mean, the bacteria have DNA (if occasionally with arsenic instead of phosphorus), the odds of that appearing twice can't be too good. Plus they were discovered in a relatively young lake. As far as I'm aware, no phylogenic analysis was done.
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Post by gyeonghwa on Dec 2, 2010 22:20:46 GMT -5
From what I've read, most likely this doesn't point to a second abiogenesis. I mean, the bacteria have DNA (if occasionally with arsenic instead of phosphorus), the odds of that appearing twice can't be too good. Plus they were discovered in a relatively young lake. As far as I'm aware, no phylogenic analysis was done. It think it's more likely that the bacteria adapted to replace phosphate with arsenate. So it's likely that it evolved from something else.
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Post by Vene on Dec 2, 2010 23:04:11 GMT -5
The bacterias are extremophiles. I think from the research they sub phosphate for aresenate when it's needed. That's pretty cool actually. What would happen if eukaryotes could do that? I am wondering if this means there were was more then one abiogenesis on Earth? I should also point out that this isn't so far fetched. A scientific American did a story on alternative biochemistry. Arsenic replacing phosphorus was one scenario. Arsenic and phosphorus are very similar chemically, one replacing the other is pretty minor and trivial. An interesting discovery, sure, but to a large extent it's not a surprise.
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Post by Tiger on Dec 3, 2010 1:14:09 GMT -5
I am wondering if this means there were was more then one abiogenesis on Earth? I should also point out that this isn't so far fetched. A scientific American did a story on alternative biochemistry. Arsenic replacing phosphorus was one scenario. Arsenic and phosphorus are very similar chemically, one replacing the other is pretty minor and trivial. Well, except for the part where it screws up your biochemistry and kills you.
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Post by cagnazzo on Dec 3, 2010 5:00:29 GMT -5
Arsenic and phosphorus are very similar chemically, one replacing the other is pretty minor and trivial. Well, except for the part where it screws up your biochemistry and kills you. That's why they're very similar and not identical chemically. In fact, the only reason it screws up biochemistry is because it's so similar.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Dec 3, 2010 14:56:08 GMT -5
So, what, the body tries to use arsenic instead of phosphorus, kind of like how carbon monoxide poisoning works?
And then what?
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Post by cagnazzo on Dec 3, 2010 17:16:46 GMT -5
So, what, the body tries to use arsenic instead of phosphorus, kind of like how carbon monoxide poisoning works? And then what? Sort of. It gets in the way of a lot of stuff, and generally puts the body under high oxidative stress, while reducing the ability to use oxygen. It does a lot of stuff that can result in death in a few different ways.
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Post by Vene on Dec 3, 2010 21:47:18 GMT -5
So, what, the body tries to use arsenic instead of phosphorus, kind of like how carbon monoxide poisoning works? And then what? Sort of. It gets in the way of a lot of stuff, and generally puts the body under high oxidative stress, while reducing the ability to use oxygen. It does a lot of stuff that can result in death in a few different ways. To add more info, arsenic gets inserted instead of phosphorous in some step of ATP generation (if I wasn't so blah from work and snow I'd find the exact step) and there is no enzyme that is able to reverse the reaction, as such, wasted energy. And wasting a lot of energy tends to kill cells. But, if it wasn't close to phosphorous chemically, it wouldn't be able to replace it during this process and it would be mostly harmless. All the best poisons are things that are really close to what the body actually wants.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Dec 3, 2010 22:29:29 GMT -5
Did you just say, "Best poisons"? Oh, right, I'm talking to Vene.
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Post by Oriet on Dec 4, 2010 1:50:08 GMT -5
Always be cautious if a space alien offers you food. At best you won't be able to digest any of it, at worst it'll kill you in new and interesting ways.
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Post by big_electron on Dec 4, 2010 1:56:22 GMT -5
We've found alien life forms right here on earth. It's certainly alien chemistry.
Another proposed element substitution has been to put silicon in place of carbon.
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