Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I What is life?
- Part II Astronomical and geophysical context of the emergence of life
- Part III The role of water in the emergence of life
- Part IV From non-living systems to life
- Part V Mechanisms for life evolution
- Part VI Life in extreme conditions
- 22 Life in extreme conditions: Deinococcus radiodurans, an organism able to survive prolonged desiccation and high doses of ionizing radiation
- 23 Molecular effects of UV and ionizing radiations on DNA
- 24 Molecular adaptations to life at high salt: lessons from Haloarcula marismortui
- Part VII Traces of life and biosignatures
- Part VIII Life elsewhere?
- Index
24 - Molecular adaptations to life at high salt: lessons from Haloarcula marismortui
from Part VI - Life in extreme conditions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 February 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I What is life?
- Part II Astronomical and geophysical context of the emergence of life
- Part III The role of water in the emergence of life
- Part IV From non-living systems to life
- Part V Mechanisms for life evolution
- Part VI Life in extreme conditions
- 22 Life in extreme conditions: Deinococcus radiodurans, an organism able to survive prolonged desiccation and high doses of ionizing radiation
- 23 Molecular effects of UV and ionizing radiations on DNA
- 24 Molecular adaptations to life at high salt: lessons from Haloarcula marismortui
- Part VII Traces of life and biosignatures
- Part VIII Life elsewhere?
- Index
Summary
The origin of life and its existence elsewhere than on planet Earth
Studies of the origins of life are closely interwoven with exobiology (Raulin-Cerceau et al., 1998). It is highly probable that the full range of conditions present on Earth since its formation are present elsewhere. On a virtual trip through the Universe, we would travel not only in space, but also back in time into the Earth's biological history. The search for past, dormant or currently existing extraterrestrial life is one of the most thought-provoking challenges for biology. It is based on the certainty that liquid water and other key chemical and physical environmental conditions for the development of living organisms, as we know them, were, or are, present elsewhere in the Universe than on our planet. Any evidence of extraterrestrial life, from Mars sample analysis for example, would be of major interest for all biology. It would contribute to an understanding not only of the definition and origin of life, but also of the evolution and adaptation of molecular mechanisms in living cells, or of how organisms adapt and develop within ecosystems.
Why study life in extreme environments?
Life on Earth is almost everywhere! And because it is almost everwhere around us, we can hope to define the extreme limits for its existence by studying it here on Earth.
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- Origins and Evolution of LifeAn Astrobiological Perspective, pp. 375 - 388Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011
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