Is there a common chemical model for life in the universe?
Abstract
A review of organic chemistry suggests that life, a chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution, may exist in a wide range of environments. These include non-aqueous solvent systems at low temperatures, or even supercritical dihydrogen-helium mixtures. The only absolute requirements may be a thermodynamic disequilibrium and temperatures consistent with chemical bonding. A solvent system, availability of elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, certain thermodynamic features of metabolic pathways, and the opportunity for isolation, may also define habitable environments. If we constrain life to water, more specific criteria can be proposed, including soluble metabolites, genetic materials with repeating charges, and a well defined temperature range.
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Alternative solvents to water include sulfuric acid, ammonia, methane, ethane, and nitrogen, each of which would be stable at the surface for different star-planet orbiting distances.
“Alternative solvents include sulfuric acid, ammonia, methane, ethane, nitrogen, each of which would be stable at the surface for different star-planet orbiting distances.”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Benner et al., 2004
Other solvents suggested for extreme cold environments include dinitrogen (N2) and supercritical dihydrogen-helium mixtures.
“Other solvents suggested for extreme cold environments include dinitrogen (N2) and supercritical dihydrogen-helium mixtures (Bains, 2004; Benner et al., 2004).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Benner et al., 2004
Whereas Earth life exploits compounds with oxygen doubly bonded to carbon, ammonia-based life might instead implement nitrogen doubly bonded to carbon.
“Additionally, whereas Earth life exploits compounds with oxygen doubly bonded to carbon, ammonia-based life might instead implement nitrogen doubly bonded to carbon (Benner et al., 2004).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Benner et al., 2004
Another alternative genetic system could also have a genetic polymer with different bases than the four used on Earth or with a different chemical backbone.
“Another alternative genetic system could also have a genetic polymer (i.e., DNA-like molecule) with different bases than the four used on Earth or with a different chemical backbone (Geyer et al., 2003; Benner et al., 2004).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Benner et al., 2004
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- Authors
- Benner, S. A., Ricardo, A., & Carrigan, M. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Florida (US)
- Corresponding author
- Benner, Steven A
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Chemical Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-12
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 672-689
- ISSN
- 1367-5931 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2012402446
- Cited by
- 363
- References
- 134
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 44 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 1.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Chemical Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Keywords
- origin of life, extraterrestrial life, habitability, non-aqueous solvents, thermodynamic non-equilibrium, chemical evolution, Darwinian evolution, metabolic pathways, water as solvent, genetic material, habitable environments
- MeSH terms
- Amino Acids, DNA, Extraterrestrial Environment, Models, Chemical
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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