The DOI matches its Crossref record; 130 of the 134 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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 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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Water as an active constituent in cell biology
Ball, P. (2008) · Chemical Reviews · doi:10.1021/cr068037a · Cited by 2,177
WATER MEDIATION IN PROTEIN FOLDING AND MOLECULAR RECOGNITION
Levy, Y., & Onuchic, J. N. (2006) · Annual Review of Biophysics and Biomolecular Structure · doi:10.1146/annurev.biophys.35.040405.102134 · Cited by 1,051
Water is an active matrix of life for cell and molecular biology
Ball, P. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1703781114 · Cited by 484
Cockell, C. S., Bush, T., Bryce, C. C., Direito, S. O. L., Fox‐Powell, M. G., Harrison, J. P., Lammer, H., Landenmark, H., Martín‐Torres, J., Nicholson, N., et al. (2016) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1295 · Cited by 429
M Stars as Targets for Terrestrial Exoplanet Searches And Biosignature Detection
Scalo, J., Kaltenegger, L., Segura, A., Fridlund, M. C., Ribas, I., Kulikov, Y. N., Grenfell, J. L., Rauer, H., Odert, P., Leitzinger, M., et al. (2007) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2006.0125 · Cited by 397
Metadata
- 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 › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Space and Planetary Science › 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
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