2004 Annual Science Report
Astrobiology Roadmap Objective 4.1 Reports Reporting | JUL 2003 – JUN 2004
Roadmap Objective 4.1—Earth's early biosphere
Project Reports
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The Planetary Context of Biological Evolution
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 4.1 4.2 6.1 7.2 -
An Astronomical Search for the Essential Ingredients for Life: Placing Our Habitable System in Context. Progress Report
Module 1: Building Blocks of Life
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 3.1 4.1 4.3 7.1 7.2 -
Enzymes of Ancient Metabolic Pathways
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.3 6.1 6.2 -
Biosignatures in Chemosynthetic and Photosynthetic Systems
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 4.1 5.1 5.2 6.1 7.1 7.2 -
Planetary Biology, Evolution and Intelligence
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2 -
Diversity and Physiology of Prokaryotes in Selected Thermophilic and Mesophilic Environments in Selected Hydrothermal Vents and Subsurface Environments
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 -
Molecular Survey of Extremophile Microbial Diversity in Hypersaline Ecosystems
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.4 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 7.1 7.2 -
Dating Earliest Life From Akilia Island, Greenland
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 -
Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Arthur)
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 4.3 5.2 6.1 -
Building a Habitable Planet: The Geological Record
Research continued in the following six areas: late Archean — early Paleoproterozoic hydrocarbon biomarker molecules, early Archean sulfur isotopes, metamorphism of early Archean biosignatures, nutrient availability (N, P) in Archean oceans, geochronology of a late Archean flood basalt province, and diamond drilling of astrobiologically significant Archean and early Proterozoic sedimentary horizons in the Pilbara Craton of Australia.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 7.1 -
Prebiotic Chemical and Isotopic Evolution on Earth
Sulfur fractionated by enzymatic catalysis has been harvested in the laboratory from living cultures of sulfur-metabolizing microbes and analyzed for 32S-33S-34S.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.1 3.2 4.1 6.1 7.1 -
Evolution of a Habitable Planet (Kump)
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 6.1 -
Ecosystem to Biosphere Modeling
We refined the model of hypersaline mats Microbial BioGeoChemistry (MBGC). Working towards publication of the first version of the model (submitted May), we adopted many improvements into the model, or researched them as future adaptations.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.3 6.1 7.2 -
Electrochemical Isotope Effects With Applications to Stable Isotope Fractionation in Transition Metals
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.1 4.1 4.2 6.1 7.1 -
Evolution of Eukaryotes and the Cambrian Explosion
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 -
Iron Oxidation – Shaping the Past and Present Environments
The principal objective of our project is to develop a better understanding of the fundamental biology of microbial iron (Fe) oxidation at neutral pH. Though the capacity for Fe oxidation is likely an ancient metabolic pathway, it is to date the least well understood among the major microbial metabolisms
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 -
Post Doc Recruitment – Water and Its Relation to Life in the Universe
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2 -
Biosignatures and Abiosignatures
Rare samples from the Upper Oligocene Enspel Formation in Germany have previously been shown to contain exceptionally well-preserved bacterial fossils.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.2 4.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 7.1 7.2 -
Genomic Record of the Earth’s Early Biosphere
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 4.3 -
Geochemical Record of the Early Terrestrial Environment
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 6.1 -
The Abiotic Planetary Model: The Upper and Lower Boundary Condition on the Atmosphere
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 7.2 -
Geopulse
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.2 5.3 7.2 -
Extraterrestrial Impact History on Earth
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.3 -
UH NAI Visiting Faculty Scholars Program
The University of Hawaii (UH)-NAI has established a Visiting Faculty Scholars program that brings external collaborators to work with local researchers.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 3.1 3.2 4.1 4.3 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 7.1 7.2 -
The Virtual Planetary Laboratory – Synthesis and Architecture
With many of the core components operating independently or near completion, this past report period focused on interface design, with focus on development of an Application Programming Interface (API) in Fortran to facilitate communication between different model components
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 1.2 4.1 7.2 -
Ultramafic-Hosted Springs in Subduction Zones
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 2.1 4.1 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 6.2 -
Genome Evolution and Innovation
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.3 -
Laboratory Microbial Simulations: Astrobiological Signatures
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 5.2 5.3 7.2 -
The Virtual Planetary Laboratory – The Life Modules
Progress has been made with submodels and fieldwork toward supporting a coherent model of how detectable biosignatures may be produced on extrasolar planets:
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 5.3 6.1 7.2 -
Re-Tracing Steps Towards a Habitable World: The Biogeochemical Evolution of Sulfur on the Early Earth.
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 3.1 4.1 4.3 5.2 5.3 6.2 7.1 7.2 -
Microbial Mat Communities
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.2 3.3 4.1 4.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 -
The Evolution and Diversity of Ancient CO2-fixation Pathways in Anaerobic and Extremophilic Microorganisms: Clues to the Early Evolution of Life on Earth
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 3.2 4.1 -
Modeling Early Atmospheric Composition and Climate_Kasting
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 4.2 -
The Impact of Atmospheric Particles on Life
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 4.1 4.3 -
Photodissociation Experiments Elucidating the Mechanism of Anomalous Sulfur Isotope Fractionation
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 -
The Evolution of a Habitable Planet
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 1.1 2.1 3.2 4.1 4.3 5.1 5.2 6.1 -
Whole Genome Comparisons and the Evolution of Methane and Sulfur Metabolisms
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.1 4.2 6.1