Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution

This eLetter motivates the long-needed back-and-forth discussion of the astrobiological potential of near-surface Martian soils. This back-and-forth may belatedly undo the damage that this propagation of errors has done to Mars exploration.

This misunderstanding of this fundamental detail of Martian near surface geology has damaged efforts to design missions to explore Mars, now for 50 years.

A recent and prominent example comes in a NASA-endorsed 2021 "Community Report From the Biosignatures Standards of Evidence Workshop" chaired by Victoria Meadows (University of Washington) and Heather Graham (NASA-GFCS), whose premises included this propagated mistake.

Further repetition of these mistakes led to their further amplification and propagation. The compounded mistakes eventually appeared even in leading astrobiology textbooks and NASA-endorsed documents.

This evolved into the view that the Martian soil is "self-sterilizing" because it contained a powerful "mystery" oxidant, and therefore could not possibly hold extant Martian life.

This mistake published in Science caused multiple generations of astrobiologists to believe incorrectly that the Martian soil contained no organic molecules.

Search for Organic and Volatile Inorganic Compounds in Two Surface Samples from the Chryse Planitia Region of Mars Two surface samples collected from the Chryse Planitia region of Mars were heated to temperatures up to 500°C, and the volatiles that they evolved were analyzed with a gas chromatograph-mass spectrome...

The eLetter is appended to the bottom of the Biemann et al. abstract at the link:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A team of scientists at FfAME (Steve Benner, Jan Spacek, Clay Abraham) joined European astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch to publish this eLetter in Science that reexamines, at last, a misinterpretation published in Science by Klaus Biemann and his coworkers. Links below!

Feel free to follow us to keep up to date with our latest research and scientific contributions!

5) Enzymatic synthesis and nanopore sequencing of 12-letter supernumerary DNA
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

6) A folding motif formed with an expanded genetic alphabet
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Artificial Genetic Systems: Self‐Avoiding DNA in PCR and Multiplexed PCR Discerning in their choice of partner: The DNA of a self-avoiding molecular-recognition system (SAMRS) binds to natural DNA but not to members of the same SAMRS. Multiplexed PCR with an SAMRS based o...

3) Artificial Genetic Systems: Self-Avoiding DNA in PCR and Multiplexed PCR
doi.org/10.1002/anie...

4) Artificially Expanded Genetic Information Systems for New Aptamer Technologies
doi.org/10.3390/biom...

Hachimoji DNA and RNA: A genetic system with eight building blocks DNA that includes synthetic bases expands the genetic code from four to eight nucleotide letters

We would like to highlight the following articles as an introduction to our research:

1) Hachimoji DNA and RNA: A genetic system with eight building blocks
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

2) Catalytic Synthesis of Polyribonucleic Acid on Prebiotic Rock Glasses
doi.org/10.1089/ast....

FfAME has a long standing history of producing a plethora of outstanding research covering nucleotide chemistry, synthetic biology, origins of life, astrobiology, and diagnostic technologies.

Hello Researchers and Science Enthusiasts,

We are proud to announce that the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution (FfAME) now has a new social media presence!