Jump to content

Talk:GFAJ-1

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 65.182.82.248 (talk) at 21:09, 2 December 2010 (→Merger proposal). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Merger proposal

I propose that Arsenic-based life be merged into GFAJ-1 (bacterium). I think that the content in the Arsenic-based life article can easily be explained in the context of GFAJ-1, and the GFAJ-1 article is of a reasonable size in which the merging of 'Arsenic-based life' will not cause any problems as far as article size or undue weight is concerned. BatteryIncluded (talk) 19:13, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wait Too soon. Give it a few days and see what the articles looks like. Knowitall (talk) 19:33, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wait. My concern with the merge is the discovery of other specific bacterium (perhaps other life forms) that are arsenic-based. We can only speculate about what more (if anything) will be discovered, but limiting the topic solely to GFAJ-1 seems a bit closed-minded. I would rather see this specific bacteria listed an example on the Arsenic-based life article. The article needs more in-depth information, but considering the story was released to the media hours ago, more information will be added soon. Additionally, carbon-based life is its own article, do you propose that we merge it into every instance of carbon-based life? Seems a bit Carbon chauvinistic. 170.31.86.53 (talk) 19:44, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wait I completely agree. We shouldn't make synonym GFAJ-1 and Arsenic Based-life. They are different themes. This will open the scientific minds to think about what how the life can be create. So, if is rest a lot of phosphorus based organism, there's a big probability to find a bunch of arsenic based life. BlackReggae (talk) 19:51, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Merge or rename Arsenic-based life. Discovering an organism that replaces phosphorous with arsenic is significant. However, GFAJ-1 is NOT arsenic-based. It's still carbon based. Arsenic/phosphorous is a relatively small component of its overall atomic make-up. It's mostly water and carbon. We may find other organisms that can replace P with As, which would merit an article on these organisms collectively. But such an article should NOT be titled [Arsenic-based life]]. Is there any hypothetical speculation about possible extraterrestrial organisms that replace CARBON (not PHOSPHOROUS) with ARSENIC? That would be arsenic-based life. As the content of Arsenic-based life currently is about GFAJ-1, the article should be merged. If there is some well referenced speculation about the possibility of actually arsenic BASED life, it should go in that article. If other organisms turn up similar to GFAJ-1, they should be discussed collectively in an article perhaps to be titled something like Facultative incorporation of arsenic in place of phosphorous in terrestrial life-forms192.104.39.2 (talk) 20:37, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Stupid notion. This is but one form of arsenic based life. 205.241.49.131 (talk) 20:39, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Comment. Somewhere Wolfe-Simon made the comment that she already has 14 other cultures from Mono Lake growing in arsenic. At present she doesn't know if any of these are different microbes than GFJA-1, but if they are then we would eventually need an article for the larger category of life. Dragons flight (talk) 20:42, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Rename Arsenic-based life I don't agree with the merge but I do agree with a name change, for the same reasons already stated here. 85.240.177.93 (talk) 20:47, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Merge or Rename Arsenic-based life. Like 192.104.39.2 up there said, the ability to substitute arsenic for phosphorous when starved does not make is arsenic-based. Since there is no known speculation for truly arsenic-based life (meaning, it utilizes arsenic in the same manner which known life uses carbon, which may not be chemically possible), there's no point in having an article with that title. Perhaps merge Arsenic-based life and add a redirect for people who search for the misnomer.65.182.82.248 (talk) 21:09, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How new?

Does this bacteria share a common ancestor with all other living things on Earth and just happens to be able to process arsenic, or is its ancestry convergent with ours? Basically, does this mean that life developed once or twice on Earth?65.182.82.248 (talk) 20:47, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This bacteria shares an evolutionary history with all other life on Earth. Its DNA is normally just like that of any other organism. It just has the ability to incorporate some arsenic in place of some phosphorus under certain conditions. Otherwise, it is just a normal bacterium. -- Ed (Edgar181) 20:51, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed with above. If this were a completely distinct form of life from everything else, it almost certainly would not be using otherwise-normal DNA or ATP to begin with. - Drlight11 (talk) 20:58, 2 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:GFAJ-1&oldid=400196815"