The uncovering is a boost for the Panspermia Hypothesis — but it ’s a possible nightmare for scientists concerned about interplanetary contamination .
European scientists have learned that unreal plasmid DNA — little grummet of DNA — are capable of surviving a 13 - minute trip into space and subsequent reentry . The outcome descend as a complete surprise to the researchers .
The experiment was conducted on the TEXUS-49 sounding rocket , which is used for unoccupied , light - continuance mission .
The University of Zurich scientist “ paint ” the bioengineered plasmids on the exterior of the rocket and onto a number of screw heads . During the flight , the genic material reach a tallness of 166 miles ( 257 km ) , was subjected to 6.3 G ’s of thrust , six minutes of microgravity , and blazingly red-hot temperature exceeding 1,000 degrees C.
After recovering the rocket engine , DNA was collected from all of the practical program sites . The research worker get that as much as 35 % retained its full biological function ( i.e. , intercede antibiotic underground in bacteria and fluorescent mark expression in eukariotic cellphone ) . The highest charge per unit of endurance was found inside the grooves of the screw heads , which featured a 53 % natural selection charge per unit .
This surprising discovery is sure to upset infinite commission scientists . The revealing that transmitted stuff is substantially hardier than previously thought mean it has the potential to stow off on robotic Lander bound for other worlds . De - contamination protocols will have to take this into consideration .
Ironically , it could make the search for exotic life all the more hard . Should we find DNA on another major planet or comet , we may not be able to tell if it initiate from Earth or if it ’s indigenous to that celestial body .
The uncovering also provides a boost to the Panspermia Hypothesis , the trace that life on Earth was seeded by microbe from infinite . That said , unprotected DNA would probably be destroyed by UV radiation . next experiment should thus be focused around this accurate result .
Read the intact studyhere .
Top photo : Adrian Mettauer . Other images via Thiel et al , PLOS .
AstrobiologyGeneticspanspermiaScience
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