An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity

[EN] The search for signs of life in the ancient rock record, extreme terrestrial environments, and other planetary bodiesrequires a well-established, universal, and unambiguous test of biogenicity. This is notably true for cellular remnantsof microbial life, since their relatively simple morphologi...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Rouillard, Joti, van Zuilen, Mark, Pisapia, Céline, García Ruiz, Juan Manuel
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/237302
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/237302
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Biosignatures
Biogenicity
Astrobiology
Early life
Cellular life
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spelling An alternative approach for assessing biogenicityRouillard, Jotivan Zuilen, MarkPisapia, CélineGarcía Ruiz, Juan ManuelBiosignaturesBiogenicityAstrobiologyEarly lifeCellular life[EN] The search for signs of life in the ancient rock record, extreme terrestrial environments, and other planetary bodiesrequires a well-established, universal, and unambiguous test of biogenicity. This is notably true for cellular remnantsof microbial life, since their relatively simple morphologies resemble various abiogenic microstructures that occur innature. Although lists of qualitative biogenicity criteria have been devised, debates regarding the biogenicity of manyancient microfossils persist to this day. We propose here an alternative quantitative approach for assessing thebiogenicity of putative microfossils. In this theoretical approach, different hypotheses—involving biology or not anddepending on the geologic setting—are put forward to explain the observed objects. These hypotheses correspond tospecific types of microstructures/systems. Using test samples, the morphology and/or chemistry of these systems arethen characterized at the scale of populations. Morphologic parameters include, for example, circularity, aspect ratio,and solidity, while chemical parameters could include elementary ratios (e.g., N/C ratio), isotopic enrichments (e.g.,d13C), or chirality (e.g., molar proportion of stereoisomers), among others. Statistic trends distinguishing the differentsystems are then searched for empirically. The trends found are translated into ‘‘decision spaces’’ where the differentsystems are quantitatively discriminated and where the potential microfossil population can be located as a singlepoint. This approach, which is formulated here on a theoretical level, will solve several problems associated with theclassical qualitative criteria of biogenicity. Most importantly, it could be applied to reveal the existence of cellular lifeon other planets, for which characteristics of morphology and chemical composition are difficult to predict.The Ministerio de Economia y competividad of Spain for funding the project CLG2016-78971-P. This project has received funding from the EuropeanResearch Council, under the European Union’s Horizon2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreementno. 694894) and the Seventh Framework Programme-FP7/2007-2013 (grant agreement no. 340863)Peer reviewedMary Ann LiebertMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (España)European CommissionGarcía Ruiz, Juan Manuel [0000-0002-4743-8718]Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202120212021info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/237302reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Inglés#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE##PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE##PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/CLG2016-78971-P.info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/340863info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/694894https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2282Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/2373022026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
title An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
spellingShingle An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
Rouillard, Joti
Biosignatures
Biogenicity
Astrobiology
Early life
Cellular life
title_short An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
title_full An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
title_fullStr An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
title_full_unstemmed An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
title_sort An alternative approach for assessing biogenicity
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Rouillard, Joti
van Zuilen, Mark
Pisapia, Céline
García Ruiz, Juan Manuel
author Rouillard, Joti
author_facet Rouillard, Joti
van Zuilen, Mark
Pisapia, Céline
García Ruiz, Juan Manuel
author_role author
author2 van Zuilen, Mark
Pisapia, Céline
García Ruiz, Juan Manuel
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
European Commission
García Ruiz, Juan Manuel [0000-0002-4743-8718]
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Biosignatures
Biogenicity
Astrobiology
Early life
Cellular life
topic Biosignatures
Biogenicity
Astrobiology
Early life
Cellular life
description [EN] The search for signs of life in the ancient rock record, extreme terrestrial environments, and other planetary bodiesrequires a well-established, universal, and unambiguous test of biogenicity. This is notably true for cellular remnantsof microbial life, since their relatively simple morphologies resemble various abiogenic microstructures that occur innature. Although lists of qualitative biogenicity criteria have been devised, debates regarding the biogenicity of manyancient microfossils persist to this day. We propose here an alternative quantitative approach for assessing thebiogenicity of putative microfossils. In this theoretical approach, different hypotheses—involving biology or not anddepending on the geologic setting—are put forward to explain the observed objects. These hypotheses correspond tospecific types of microstructures/systems. Using test samples, the morphology and/or chemistry of these systems arethen characterized at the scale of populations. Morphologic parameters include, for example, circularity, aspect ratio,and solidity, while chemical parameters could include elementary ratios (e.g., N/C ratio), isotopic enrichments (e.g.,d13C), or chirality (e.g., molar proportion of stereoisomers), among others. Statistic trends distinguishing the differentsystems are then searched for empirically. The trends found are translated into ‘‘decision spaces’’ where the differentsystems are quantitatively discriminated and where the potential microfossil population can be located as a singlepoint. This approach, which is formulated here on a theoretical level, will solve several problems associated with theclassical qualitative criteria of biogenicity. Most importantly, it could be applied to reveal the existence of cellular lifeon other planets, for which characteristics of morphology and chemical composition are difficult to predict.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021
2021
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/237302
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/237302
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv #PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MINECO/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/CLG2016-78971-P.
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/340863
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/694894
https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2282
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Mary Ann Liebert
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Mary Ann Liebert
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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