The generally accepted notion of a single origin of life from a primordial soup on the early Earth has been challenged recently by the suggestion of a “second life,” “shadow life,” and even “biological dark matter.” The problem in classifying these microorganisms is in the difficulty or complete failure of the 16s genetic fingerprinting process, suggesting a different underlying biochemistry resulting from at least a second origin of life. We consider an extension of this concept to include continuous origination of life throughout Earth’s history, up to the present. The consequences for interpreting the “tree of life” are also considered.

Date Published: 15 October 2012
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8521, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XV, 85210A (15 October 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.929892

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8521:
Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XV
Richard B. Hoover; Gilbert V. Levin; Alexei Yu. Rozanov; Paul C. W. Davies, Editor(s)