Related papers: Evidence of molecular adaptation to extreme enviro…
Prokaryotes living at extreme environmental temperatures exhibit pronounced signatures in the amino acid composition of their proteins and nucleotide compositions of their genomes reflective of adaptation to their thermal environments.…
In this work we employ various methods of analysis (unfolding simulations and comparative analysis of structures and sequences of proteomes of thermophilic organisms) to show that organisms can follow two major strategies of thermophilic…
From a purely operational standpoint, the existence of microbes that can grow under extreme conditions, or "extremophiles", leads to the question of how the molecules making up these microbes can maintain both their structure and function.…
Production of heat shock proteins are induced when a living cell is exposed to a rise in temperature. The heat shock response of protein DnaK synthesis in E.coli for temperature shifts from temperature T to T plus 7 degrees, respectively to…
The search for biosignatures necessitates developing our understanding of life under different conditions. If life can influence the climate evolution of its planet then understanding the behaviour of life-climate feedbacks under extreme…
A previously established multiscale population genetics model states that fitness can be inferred from the physical properties of proteins under the physiological assumption that a loss of stability by any protein confers the lethal…
Environmental stress, such as oxidative or heat stress, induces the activation of the Heat Shock Response (HSR) which leads to an increase in the heat shock proteins (HSPs) level. These HSPs act as molecular chaperones to maintain…
Ultracool dwarfs have emerged as key targets for searches of transiting exoplanets. Precise estimates of the host parameters (including mass, age, and radius) are fundamental to constrain the physical properties of orbiting exoplanets. We…
Taking advantage of a recent FORS2/VLT spectroscopic sample of Extreme Horizontal Branch (EHB) stars in $\omega$ Cen, we isolate 38 spectra well suited for detailed atmospheric studies and determine their fundamental parameters ($T_{\rm…
(Abridged) Aims: We aim to use the progressive heating of the gas caused by the feedback of high-mass young stellar objects (YSOs) to prove the statistical validity of the most common schemes used to define an evolutionary sequence for…
In an effort to derive temperature based criteria of habitability for multicellular life, we investigated the thermal limits of terrestrial poikilotherms, i.e. organisms whose body temperature and the functioning of all vital processes is…
The upcoming extremely large telescopes will provide the first opportunity to search for signs of habitability and life on non-transiting terrestrial exoplanets using high-contrast, high-resolution instrumentation. However, the suite of…
We use a simple organism lifecycle model to explore the viability of an atmospheric habitable zone (AHZ), with temperatures that could support Earth-centric life, which sits above an environment that does not support life. To illustrate our…
The genetic code underlying protein synthesis is a canonical example of a degenerate biological system. Degeneracies in physical and biological systems can be lifted by external perturbations thus allowing degenerate systems to exhibit a…
We have recently completed an observing program with the Australia Telescope Compact Array towards massive star formation regions traced by 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission. We found the molecular cores could be separated into groups based…
Heat shock response is a stress response to temperature changes and a consecutive increase in amounts of unfolded proteins. To restore homeostasis, cells upregulate chaperones facilitating protein folding by means of transcription factors…
Theory and observation for the search for life on exoplanets via atmospheric "biosignature gases" is accelerating, motivated by the capabilities of the next generation of space- and ground-based telescopes. The most observationally…
We have developed a 1D planetary atmosphere model that solves in a self-consistent manner the evolution of temperature and disequilibrium chemistry in the vertical direction. Thermochemical kinetics is based on a reaction network built from…
Epigenome modulation in response to the environment potentially provides a mechanism for organisms to adapt, both within and between generations. However, neither the extent to which this occurs, nor the molecular mechanisms involved are…
A central problem when studying adaptation to a new environment is the interplay between genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity. Arabidopsis thaliana has colonized a wide range of habitats across the world and it is therefore an…