Xenobiology: Could life have evolved via an alternative route? - Members +3
Xenobiology: Could life have evolved via an alternative route?
Join OtherMinds lab for a moderated scientific discussion on peptide/protein disorder, tardigrades, silicon chemistry, and the origins of life.
Does life require the molecular structures we recognize on Earth? Could organisms survive through flexible, disordered proteins? And could a Miller–Urey-inspired experiment reveal alternative pathways toward silicon-containing prebiotic chemistry?
Join us for a discussion centered on three research papers:
XenoDisorder — Wright & Dyson (2015) Intrinsically disordered proteins in cellular signalling and regulation. How can proteins function without a single stable structure, and what does this mean for alternative biochemistry? https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3920
Tardigrades — Boothby et al. (2017) Tardigrades Use Intrinsically Disordered Proteins to Survive Desiccation. Can protein flexibility and protective molecular states explain extreme survival, and could these mechanisms be useful in space? https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2017.02.018
Silicon Chemistry — Kan et al. (2016) Directed Evolution of Cytochrome c for Carbon–Silicon Bond Formation: Bringing Silicon to Life. If enzymes can form carbon–silicon bonds, what experiments could investigate silicon-containing chemistry under simulated planetary conditions? https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aah6219
Discussion topics
We will explore what defines life, possible noncanonical amino acids and molecular structures, extremophile survival, and how to design controlled experiments inspired by the original Miller–Urey experiment.
Format: Moderated discussion, audience questions, and collaborative brainstorming of testable scientific hypotheses.
No specialized background is required—just curiosity about how different life could be.
Moderated by Byron P. Lee (biobitworks, cellico.bio)
About OtherMinds Lab:
An independent research lab and community in San Francisco, studying where intelligence comes from — and how we'd recognize it beyond Earth.
Learn more at othermindslab.org
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