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Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) contains genetic instructions for all known living things. And scientists from the US NASA space agency have created an "extraterrestrial" DNA form. This DNA could lead to breakthroughs in understanding what extraterrestrial life might look like.
The discovery of NASA suggests that there could be unimaginable forms of life based on DNA as we know it on Earth.
And extraterrestrial life on other worlds could be built using different molecular systems like those synthesized by NASA scientists, they suggested.
The new molecular system will allow scientists in search of extraterrestrial life to recalibrate exactly what they are looking for and where it might exist.
DNA is a complex molecule shaped like a double helix that is stored and then transmits the genetic information that makes us what we are.
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These data are transmitted from generation to generation in every living being on Earth, allowing life to continue.
DNA is built from four different ingredients called nucleotides and common to all life on our planet.
But DNA has shown that DNA could show that DNA could vary considerably.
Imagining life forms that could use different structures – and developing ways to detect them – is a central part of NASA's work.
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And this week's announcement is a major breakthrough because the study created such a molecule.
Lori Glaze, Acting Director of NASA's Global Science Division, said, "The detection of life is an increasingly important goal of NASA's global science missions. This new work will help us develop effective instruments and experiences that will expand the scope of what we are looking for. "
New research has seen scientists create a new type of molecule system that works like DNA, but presents a significant difference.
Instead of the four usual DNA ingredients, NASA scientists have created one that contains eight.
It contains the four species present in life on Earth: adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine.
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NASA scientists have added four additional synthetics, able to replicate the structure of ingredients in normal DNA.
NASA researchers call this new creation "hachimoji" DNA – hachi is Japanese for eight, while moji means letter.
Hhachimoji's DNA works in the same way as our DNA, meeting the same requirements that allow it to store and transmit information.
This means that the types of molecules that could store information in life on extraterrestrial worlds could be just as different.
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Steven Benner, head of the research team at the Molecular Evolution Foundation in Alachua, Fla., Said, "By carefully analyzing the roles of shape, size, and structure in the hachimoji DNA, this work helps to better understand the types of molecules store information in extraterrestrial life on extraterrestrial worlds. "
The NASA study seems to have proven that life can be structured in different ways than on Earth, at the most basic level.
This means that unimaginable extraterrestrial life forms could thrive in environments never before envisioned by those who sought it.
Mary Voytek, principal astrobiology researcher at NASA headquarters, said: "A better understanding of what is possible in the design of our instruments and in our mission concepts will lead to a more inclusive and therefore more effective research of the life beyond the Earth. "
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