Genome hunters go for Martian DNA
J. Craig Venter joined the search for extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet.
Hot spot : biologists want to send a DNA sequencer to search for life on Mars.
Two high-profile entrepreneurs say they want to put a DNA sequencer on the surface of Mars in an attempt to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life.
On what could be the race for the first extraterrestrial genomes, researcher J. Craig Venter said on Tuesday (October 16, 2012) that his Maryland Academic Institute and his company Sythentic Genomics will develop a machine capable of sequencing and transferring DNA data with Mars.
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Regardless, Jonathan Rotberg, founder of Ion Torrent , a DNA sequencing company, is making efforts to adapt the personal genome machine produced by Mars for the conditions of Mars.
“We want to make sure that Ion Torrent is suitable for Mars,” said Rotberg Technology Review.
Although none of the teams have a sleeping space for a rocket to Mars, their plans reflect the belief that the easiest way to prove whether there is life on Mars is to send a DNA sequencer there.
"There will be forms of DNA, and there will be life," predicted Venter on Tuesday in New York, where he spoke at the Wired Health conference.
Venter said that the researchers working with him had already begun testing on a site similar to Mars in the Mojave Desert. According to him, their goal is to demonstrate a machine capable of autonomously isolating microorganisms from the soil, sequencing their DNA, and then transmitting information to a remote computer, as required by an unmanned expedition to Mars. (Listen to his video comments, starting at 00:11:01.) ( Heather ) Kovalski, a spokeswoman for Venter, confirmed the existence of the project, but said that the prototype of the system was “not 100% robotic”.
Meanwhile, the Rotberg personal genome machine is currently being adapted for Martian conditions as part of a NASA-funded project at Harvard and MIT, called SET-G, or " search for extraterrestrial genomes ."
Christopher Carr, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who participates in these studies, says his lab's task is to reduce the Ion Torrent machine from thirty to three kilograms so that it can fit on the NASA rover. Other tests that have already been conducted have determined how well the device can withstand the heavy radiation it encounters on its way to Mars.
NASA, whose Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August, will not send missions to this planet with another rover until at least 2018 (see " Martian rover Curiosity marked (marks -?) Technological triumph "), and there is no guarantee that the DNA sequencing device gets on board. “The challenge is getting to Mars, you must exceed NASA specifications,” says George Church, a Harvard University researcher and senior member of the SET-G team. "[Venter] is not ahead of everyone now."
Many NASA scientists have insisted on what is called a “returnable sample”, a mission to travel back and forth, with the goal of returning soils and rocks for analysis. However, a DNA sequencer being developed may be the best way to search for life on Mars.
“You can take the device all the way to Mars and not return the sample due to contamination. No one will believe you, ”says Tessi Canavaroti, a chemist who had previously conducted theoretical work on Martian biology and participated in studying the breed, which was brought from the moon in 1970. The sequencers are so sensitive that if one germ of the Earth landed on samples that came back from Mars, it could destroy the whole experiment.
Martian Chronicler: This microfluidic device was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to automatically run DNA experiments on other planets Photo: Christopher Carr | MIT
DNA searches on Mars will not be easy. The robot must be able to scoop the soil and prepare the sample automatically. The sequencing machine must operate at low temperatures and in a very rarefied atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide. Martian genes may also differ from those known for terrestrial animals, and may consist of excellent blocks of chemicals.
“This will only work if DNA on Mars has exactly the same fundamental structure as Earth,” says Stephen Benner, president of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida. He says he doubts this: "It is very unlikely that terrestrial DNA is the only structure that is able to support Darwinian evolution."
The discovery and sequencing of extraterrestrial life would be a great scientific achievement. Sequencing can determine if there is life and whether it has evolved in a similar way on both Earth and Mars, or it may be moving between the planets. During a series of collisions of massive cosmic bodies about four billion years ago, both planets exchanged about a billion tons of rocks and debris.
So far, NASA researchers have searched Mars for traces of water as a prerequisite for life, as we know it, as well as indirect signs that life could have existed there many eons ago. Even on Earth, DNA molecules do not survive for more than a million years, so anyone sending a DNA sequencer to Mars must believe that living microorganisms will be found there.
“The current approach of NASA is to look at the past life. Many people are reluctant to talk about surviving life, ”says Carr. "We risk, but we want to make this jump."
Life probably cannot survive due to radiation on the surface of Mars, but it can exist deep in the soil a meter or more, where it is protected. On Earth, for example, living microorganisms are found several kilometers underground.
Carr calls sending a DNA sequencer to Mars an experiment "with a high degree of risk, but a high gain." It may well not find anything, but if DNA is found, it will provide almost irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Small chances seem to attract both Venter and Rotberg, the two largest biotechnology showmen. Ten years ago, Venter caused heartburn from academic researchers with his privately-funded efforts to decipher the human genome. Rothberg, also a celebrity in the media , has become famous for news about help in deciphering the DNA of celebrities such as James Watson, as well as Neanderthals.
“We want our name to be pronounced,” says Rothberg. "[Mars] provides corporate opportunities, but we think our technology works faster and better."
In an e-mail, Venter's press secretary downplayed the idea of ​​competition for primacy to detect extraterrestrial DNA. “[I] wouldn’t say there is any race,” she said. “Yes, the idea is that we make it, but this, of course, does not eliminate anyone else from its implementation”
Venter also stated that it may be possible in the future to reconstruct Martian organisms in a super-safe laboratory on Earth, using only their DNA sequence. The idea is to use the DNA data to repair these genomes, and then inject them into some artificial cells. This is an idea he calls “biological teleport.”
"People are worried about the Andromeda strain, " says Venter. "We can restore the Martians in the P-4 spacesuit of the laboratory instead of giving them land in the ocean."
Hot spot : biologists want to send a DNA sequencer to search for life on Mars.
Two high-profile entrepreneurs say they want to put a DNA sequencer on the surface of Mars in an attempt to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life.
On what could be the race for the first extraterrestrial genomes, researcher J. Craig Venter said on Tuesday (October 16, 2012) that his Maryland Academic Institute and his company Sythentic Genomics will develop a machine capable of sequencing and transferring DNA data with Mars.
')
Regardless, Jonathan Rotberg, founder of Ion Torrent , a DNA sequencing company, is making efforts to adapt the personal genome machine produced by Mars for the conditions of Mars.
“We want to make sure that Ion Torrent is suitable for Mars,” said Rotberg Technology Review.
Although none of the teams have a sleeping space for a rocket to Mars, their plans reflect the belief that the easiest way to prove whether there is life on Mars is to send a DNA sequencer there.
"There will be forms of DNA, and there will be life," predicted Venter on Tuesday in New York, where he spoke at the Wired Health conference.
Venter said that the researchers working with him had already begun testing on a site similar to Mars in the Mojave Desert. According to him, their goal is to demonstrate a machine capable of autonomously isolating microorganisms from the soil, sequencing their DNA, and then transmitting information to a remote computer, as required by an unmanned expedition to Mars. (Listen to his video comments, starting at 00:11:01.) ( Heather ) Kovalski, a spokeswoman for Venter, confirmed the existence of the project, but said that the prototype of the system was “not 100% robotic”.
Meanwhile, the Rotberg personal genome machine is currently being adapted for Martian conditions as part of a NASA-funded project at Harvard and MIT, called SET-G, or " search for extraterrestrial genomes ."
Christopher Carr, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who participates in these studies, says his lab's task is to reduce the Ion Torrent machine from thirty to three kilograms so that it can fit on the NASA rover. Other tests that have already been conducted have determined how well the device can withstand the heavy radiation it encounters on its way to Mars.
NASA, whose Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August, will not send missions to this planet with another rover until at least 2018 (see " Martian rover Curiosity marked (marks -?) Technological triumph "), and there is no guarantee that the DNA sequencing device gets on board. “The challenge is getting to Mars, you must exceed NASA specifications,” says George Church, a Harvard University researcher and senior member of the SET-G team. "[Venter] is not ahead of everyone now."
Many NASA scientists have insisted on what is called a “returnable sample”, a mission to travel back and forth, with the goal of returning soils and rocks for analysis. However, a DNA sequencer being developed may be the best way to search for life on Mars.
“You can take the device all the way to Mars and not return the sample due to contamination. No one will believe you, ”says Tessi Canavaroti, a chemist who had previously conducted theoretical work on Martian biology and participated in studying the breed, which was brought from the moon in 1970. The sequencers are so sensitive that if one germ of the Earth landed on samples that came back from Mars, it could destroy the whole experiment.
Martian Chronicler: This microfluidic device was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in order to automatically run DNA experiments on other planets Photo: Christopher Carr | MIT
DNA searches on Mars will not be easy. The robot must be able to scoop the soil and prepare the sample automatically. The sequencing machine must operate at low temperatures and in a very rarefied atmosphere consisting mainly of carbon dioxide. Martian genes may also differ from those known for terrestrial animals, and may consist of excellent blocks of chemicals.
“This will only work if DNA on Mars has exactly the same fundamental structure as Earth,” says Stephen Benner, president of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, Florida. He says he doubts this: "It is very unlikely that terrestrial DNA is the only structure that is able to support Darwinian evolution."
The discovery and sequencing of extraterrestrial life would be a great scientific achievement. Sequencing can determine if there is life and whether it has evolved in a similar way on both Earth and Mars, or it may be moving between the planets. During a series of collisions of massive cosmic bodies about four billion years ago, both planets exchanged about a billion tons of rocks and debris.
So far, NASA researchers have searched Mars for traces of water as a prerequisite for life, as we know it, as well as indirect signs that life could have existed there many eons ago. Even on Earth, DNA molecules do not survive for more than a million years, so anyone sending a DNA sequencer to Mars must believe that living microorganisms will be found there.
“The current approach of NASA is to look at the past life. Many people are reluctant to talk about surviving life, ”says Carr. "We risk, but we want to make this jump."
Life probably cannot survive due to radiation on the surface of Mars, but it can exist deep in the soil a meter or more, where it is protected. On Earth, for example, living microorganisms are found several kilometers underground.
Carr calls sending a DNA sequencer to Mars an experiment "with a high degree of risk, but a high gain." It may well not find anything, but if DNA is found, it will provide almost irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial life.
Small chances seem to attract both Venter and Rotberg, the two largest biotechnology showmen. Ten years ago, Venter caused heartburn from academic researchers with his privately-funded efforts to decipher the human genome. Rothberg, also a celebrity in the media , has become famous for news about help in deciphering the DNA of celebrities such as James Watson, as well as Neanderthals.
“We want our name to be pronounced,” says Rothberg. "[Mars] provides corporate opportunities, but we think our technology works faster and better."
In an e-mail, Venter's press secretary downplayed the idea of ​​competition for primacy to detect extraterrestrial DNA. “[I] wouldn’t say there is any race,” she said. “Yes, the idea is that we make it, but this, of course, does not eliminate anyone else from its implementation”
Venter also stated that it may be possible in the future to reconstruct Martian organisms in a super-safe laboratory on Earth, using only their DNA sequence. The idea is to use the DNA data to repair these genomes, and then inject them into some artificial cells. This is an idea he calls “biological teleport.”
"People are worried about the Andromeda strain, " says Venter. "We can restore the Martians in the P-4 spacesuit of the laboratory instead of giving them land in the ocean."
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/155359/
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