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The viability of Earth-life on other planets

Research Project

Project/Area Number 19K23459
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section 0204:Astronomy, earth and planetary science, and related fields
Research InstitutionTokyo Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Smith Harrison  東京工業大学, 地球生命研究所, 研究員 (50843934)

Project Period (FY) 2019-08-30 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Keywordscomplex systems / biochemistry / networks / astrobiology / planetary science / Astrobiology / Metabolism / Software / Networks / Complex Systems
Outline of Research at the Start

I aim to elucidate the viability of Earth-life’s metabolic pathways on several planetary bodies with different chemical availabilities by applying the metabolic network expansion technique on all catalogued biochemical reactions.

I will identify the organisms and communities which could be viable on other planets (based on their known geochemistry); or if none are viable, to identify the compounds necessary to make them so. In the process, I will develop software which can be used to answer these important research questions, as well as any follow-up questions which emerge from this project.

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I led development of two software packages related to 1) collecting and organizing biochemical data (package is called ecg, written in python), and 2) performing network expansion on biochemical data, including determining compounds necessary to make organisms viable in different environments (package is called BioXP, written in Julia). These packages were used to demonstrate the practicality of a methodology to determine the viability of Earth-organisms on other planets (based on observations of the compounds available on those planets). This work showed that none of the investigated organisms were viable on Enceladus given our current state of knowledge.

This methods were also used to investigate research questions to the origin and nature of life on early Earth, and early evolution of life. We found that most of Earth's metabolism is accessible from a simple set of initial compounds.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

This is one of the first systematically quantitative predictions on the viability of Earth-life on other planets. It even touches on explaining the Fermi paradox;perhaps colonizing other planets is hindered by the dependence of life on specific geochemistry.

Report

(5 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • 2019 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (12 results)

All 2023 2022 2021 2020

All Journal Article (4 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 3 results,  Peer Reviewed: 3 results,  Open Access: 1 results) Presentation (8 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results,  Invited: 6 results)

  • [Journal Article] Primitive purine biosynthesis connects ancient geochemistry to modern metabolism2023

    • Author(s)
      Goldford, Josh; Smith, Harrison; Longo, Liam; Wing, Boswell; McGlynn, Shawn
    • Journal Title

      Nature Ecology and Evolution

      Volume: -

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] Life detection in a universe of false positives2023

    • Author(s)
      Smith, Harrison; Mathis, Cole
    • Journal Title

      BioEssays

      Volume: -

    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Journal Article] The Futility of Exoplanet Biosignatures2022

    • Author(s)
      Harrison Smith, Cole Mathis
    • Journal Title

      Nature Astronomy (submitted)

      Volume: -

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
  • [Journal Article] Seeding Biochemistry on Other Worlds: Enceladus as a Case Study2021

    • Author(s)
      Harrison B. Smith, Alexa Drew, John F. Malloy, Sara I. Walker
    • Journal Title

      Astrobiology

      Volume: 21 Issue: 2 Pages: 177-190

    • DOI

      10.1089/ast.2019.2197

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Punctuated transitions in the origin of biosphere level metabolism2022

    • Author(s)
      Goldford, Josh; Smith, Harrison; Longo, Liam; Wing, Boswell; McGlynn, Shawn
    • Organizer
      Astrobiology Science Conference 2022
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] The futility of exoplanet biosignatures2022

    • Author(s)
      Smith, Harrison; Mathis, Cole
    • Organizer
      Astrobiology Science Conference 2022
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] (untitled)2022

    • Author(s)
      Harrison Smith
    • Organizer
      NAS Committee on Planetary Protection Meeting No. 4 on Planetary Protection for Missions to Small Bodies Astrobiology and Astrochemistry Contamination Concerns for Small Bodies Science
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
  • [Presentation] What are we actually looking for when we look for life2022

    • Author(s)
      Harrison Smith
    • Organizer
      Earth-Life Science Institute 10th International Symposium
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Seeding Biochemistry on Other Worlds: Enceladus as a Case Study2021

    • Author(s)
      Harrison Smith
    • Organizer
      Astrobiology Graduate Conference
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
  • [Presentation] Habitability in terms of complex biochemical networks2020

    • Author(s)
      Smith, Harrison
    • Organizer
      Re-conceptualizing panspermia
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Computationally assessing the viability of biochemical networks on Enceladus2020

    • Author(s)
      Smith, Harrison
    • Organizer
      2nd international symposium of aquaplanetology
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Invited
  • [Presentation] Computationally assessing the viability of biochemical networks across environments2020

    • Author(s)
      Smith, Harrison
    • Organizer
      Interdisciplinary origin of life virtual workshop
    • Related Report
      2019 Research-status Report
    • Invited

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Published: 2019-09-03   Modified: 2024-01-30  

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