An Origin of Life on Mars

• Published in: Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
• Main Author: McKay, Christopher P.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2010
• Subjects: Perspectives; permafrost
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2845199; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20452949; https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a003509

Evidence of past liquid water on the surface of Mars suggests that this world once had habitable conditions and leads to the question of life. If there was life on Mars, it would be interesting to determine if it represented a separate origin from life on Earth. To determine the biochemistry and genetics of life on Mars requires that we have access to an organism or the biological remains of one—possibly preserved in ancient permafrost. A way to determine if organic material found on Mars represents the remains of an alien biological system could be based on the observation that biological systems select certain organic molecules over others that are chemically similar (e.g., chirality in amino acids).