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The AMINO experiment: RNA stability under solar radiation studied on the EXPOSE-R facility of the International Space Station

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2014

Jacques Vergne ,
Hervé Cottin ,
Laura da Silva ,
André Brack ,
Didier Chaput  and
Marie-Christine Maurel
Jacques Vergne
Affiliation:
UMR 7205 – ISyEB, CNRS-MNHN-UPMC Univ Paris 06, F–75005, Paris, France
Hervé Cottin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA), UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris Est Créteil et Université Paris Diderot, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace, Créteil, France
Laura da Silva
Affiliation:
UMR 7205 – ISyEB, CNRS-MNHN-UPMC Univ Paris 06, F–75005, Paris, France
André Brack
Affiliation:
Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS, Orléans, France
Didier Chaput
Affiliation:
Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), Centre Spatial de Toulouse, 18 Av. Édouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
Marie-Christine Maurel*
Affiliation:
UMR 7205 – ISyEB, CNRS-MNHN-UPMC Univ Paris 06, F–75005, Paris, France
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Careful examination of the present metabolism and in vitro selection of various catalytic RNAs strongly support the RNA world hypothesis as a crucial step of the origins and early life evolution. Small functional RNAs were exposed from 10 March 2009 to 21 January 2011 to space conditions on board the International Space Station in the EXPOSE-R mission. The aim of this study was to investigate the preservation or modification properties such as integrity of RNAs after space exposition. The exposition to the solar radiation has a strong degradation effect on the size distribution of RNA. Moreover, the comparison between the in-flight samples, exposed to the Sun and not exposed, indicates that the solar radiation degrades RNA bases.

Keywords

EXPOSE-R missionISSRNAspace conditionssolar radiation
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 14 , Special Issue 1: SPECIAL ISSUE: EXPOSE-R , January 2015 , pp. 99 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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