Plant Seeds as Model Vectors for the Transfer of Life Through Space

• Published in: Astrophysics and space science Vol. 306; no. 1-2; pp. 69 - 75
• Main Authors: Tepfer, David, Leach, Sydney
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01-12-2006; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Amino acids; Astrophysics; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Embryos; Endophytes; Environmental Sciences; Life Sciences; Lipids; Seeds; Ultraviolet radiation; SPACE SURVIVAL; EXTREMOPHILE; PLANT SEED; PANSPERMIA; UV RESISTANCE
• ISSN: 0004-640X; 1572-946X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10509-006-9239-0

We consider plant seeds as terrestrial models for a vectored life form that could protect biological information in space. Seeds consist of maternal tissue surrounding and protecting an embryo. Some seeds resist deleterious conditions found in space: ultra low vacuum, extreme temperatures and radiation, including intense UV light. In a receptive environment, seeds could liberate a viable embryo, viable higher cells or a viable free-living organism (an endosymbiont or endophyte). Even if viability is lost, seeds still contain functional macro and small molecules (DNA, RNA, proteins, amino acids, lipids, etc.) that could provide the chemical basis for starting or modifying life. The possible release of endophytes or endosymbionts from a seed-like space traveler suggests that multiple domains of life, defined in DNA sequence phylogenies, could be disseminated simultaneously from Earth. We consider the possibility of exospermia, the outward transfer of life, as well as introspermia, the inward transfer of life-both as a contemporary and ancient events.