Organic Catalytic Activity as a Method for Agnostic Life Detection.

Georgiou, Christos D; McKay, Christopher; Reymond, Jean-Louis (2023). Organic Catalytic Activity as a Method for Agnostic Life Detection. Astrobiology, 23(10), pp. 1118-1127. Mary Ann Liebert 10.1089/ast.2023.0022

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An ideal life detection instrument would have high sensitivity but be insensitive to abiotic processes and would be capable of detecting life with alternate molecular structures. In this study, we propose that catalytic activity can be the basis of a nearly ideal life detection instrument. There are several advantages to catalysis as an agnostic life detection method. Demonstrating catalysis does not necessarily require culturing/growing the alien life and in fact may persist even in dead biomass for some time, and the amplification by catalysis is large even by minute amounts of catalysts and, hence, can be readily detected against abiotic background rates. In specific, we propose a hydrolytic catalysis detection instrument that could detect activity in samples of extraterrestrial organic material from unknown life. The instrument uses chromogenic assay-based detection of various hydrolytic catalytic activities, which are matched to corresponding artificial substrates having the same, chromogenic (preferably fluorescent) upon release, group; D- and L-enantiomers of these substrates can be used to also answer the question whether unknown life is chiral. Since catalysis is a time-proportional product-concentration amplification process, hydrolytic catalytic activity can be measured on a sample of even a minute size, and with instruments based on, for example, optofluidic chip technology.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCBP)

UniBE Contributor:

Reymond, Jean-Louis

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

1531-1074

Publisher:

Mary Ann Liebert

Language:

English

Submitter:

Pubmed Import

Date Deposited:

02 Aug 2023 10:23

Last Modified:

20 Oct 2023 00:13

Publisher DOI:

10.1089/ast.2023.0022

PubMed ID:

37523279

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Catalysis Enceladus Europa Life detection Mars

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/185164

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/185164

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