"I have heard of a future possibility of mining asteroids for minerals. How would one go about finding asteroids that have important minerals?"
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Molecular Signatures of Life on the Edge (DDF project)
Project Investigators: Christopher House, Jason Dworkin, Sorel Fitz-Gibbon
Other Project Members
Zhidan Zhang (Research Staff)Moshe (Mathew) Rhodes (Doctoral Student)Andreas Teske (Collaborator)Kat Dawson (Doctoral Student)Aharon Oren (Collaborator)Oded Beja (Collaborator)Summary
We have investigated the Dead Sea, as a possible analog of early Mars environments – slightly acidic and highly saline. We have used metagenomics, lipid analysis, and amino acid analysis.
Astrobiology Roadmap Objectives:
- Objective 2.1: Mars exploration
- Objective 5.1: Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms
- Objective 5.2: Co-evolution of microbial communities
- Objective 5.3: Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments
- Objective 7.1: Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials
Project Progress
We have moved forward on field work first. We have also completed half of our metagenomics sequencing including half of a 454 plate for the modern Dead Sea, half of a plate from the 1992 Dead Sea. We also have amino acid analysis and lipid analysis.
Cross-Team Collaborations
The project involved Aharon Oren (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Oded Beja, (Technion), Andreas Teske (UNC; part of MBL team), Sorel T. Fitz-Gibbon (UCLA), Jason Dworkin (Goddard). These researchers have been an important part of our work contributing expertise and techniques.
Publications
Rhodes, M., Fitz-Gibbon, S., Oren, A. & House, C. (2008). Molecular Biosignatures of Life on the Edge [Abstract]. Astrobiology, 2(8):474.
- Untitled
- Castleman Report
- Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Brantley)
- Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Stewart)
- Examination of the Microbial Diversity Found in Ice Cores (Brenchley)
- Ferry Report
- Genomic Record of the Earth's Early Biosphere (Hedges)
- Genomics of sulfidic cave extremophiles (Supplement to NNA04CC06A)
- Laboratory Microbial Simulations: Astrobiological Signatures
- Modeling Early Atmospheric Composition and Climate
- Molecular Signatures of Life on the Edge (DDF project)
- PSARC (Sigurdsson report)