ENIGMA

The ENIGMA research team is focused on answering a single, compelling question in astrobiology: How did proteins evolve to become the predominant catalysts of life on Earth? Proteins are nanomachines that enable cells to generate energy and self-replicate. The emergence of these nanomachines allowed early life to convert chemical energy in the environment into useful biologic energy. How?... The proposed team is dedicated to understanding how nature formed catalysts that serve as the pervasive nanomachines of life on Earth, and how analogous processes may have evolved on other planetary bodies within or beyond our solar system. The results of our research will advance our knowledge of how biochemistry emerged from geochemistry-specifically, the enzymatic functions of metal-bearing proteins emerged approximately 4 billion years ago from a geochemical and mineralogical milieu that in some respects mimicked the emergent biochemistry. This concept is of significance to the astrobiology..

Also known as: The ENIGMA

Primary location: New Brunswick United States