A Starman once asked ‘Is there life on Mars?’. Javier Martin-Torres and team might one step closer to answering his question. 👇
Chief Scientific Officer at Oxford Nanopore | Leading scientific vision from genomics to multiomics
Could nanopore sequencing help us detect if life ever existed on Mars? 🪐 An interesting paper from Maria-Paz Zorzano, Jyothi Basapathi R , Javier Martin-Torres and colleagues demonstrating how nanopore sequencing could be used to detect traces of life — even under Mars-like conditions. From as little as half a gram of irradiated rock, and total DNA yields as low as 0.6 ng, researchers attempted direct DNA detection using nanopore sequencing — without amplification. Even after intense radiation exposure (equivalent to the Martian surface), they recovered readable DNA fragments. These fragments carried enough information to reconstruct distinct microbiomes consistent with each rock type they used. In a blind bioinformatics analysis, independent colleagues — unaware of which samples had been irradiated — retrieved the same microbiomes across replicates, boosting confidence that the signals were genuine and indigenous. Why it matters: These results provide realistic expectations for life detection in Mars Sample Return missions, showing that even heavily irradiated DNA can persist and still yield interpretable biological information. The study is a great example of what’s possible when planetary science meets genomics — and how technologies designed for Earth’s toughest challenges can extend to the most extreme frontiers. Even the most irradiated, seemingly barren rocks may still whisper a story of life. #NanoporeSequencing #SpaceResearch #Genomics #Mars #LifeDetection #OxfordNanopore #Innovation https://lnkd.in/e-WDBj6V Read the paper here: [https://lnkd.in/eT9J4wPT]