Intact polar lipids as organic biomarkers of viable extraterrestrial life
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Hirsch, Solomon
Sephton, Mark A
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The detection of viable life is a key objective for both in situ astrobiological experiments on extraterrestrial bodies, and for planetary protection protocols on Earth following sample return. We evaluated the potential for common bacterial and archaeal intact polar lipids (IPLs) to be used as viable life markers owing to their particularly fast rate (hours to days) of post-mortem degradation. We determined the chemical signatures of IPLs using pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry experiments (with and without derivatisation), to simulate the results of in situ pyrolytic organic analyses. Monoglycerides, formed as pyrolysis products of typical bacterial IPLs, were the strongest signature for the parent compounds, and were identified in both the pyrolysis of a phospholipid mixture and freeze-dried bacterial culture. Our results demonstrate that relatively rapid and elegant pyrolysis techniques can reveal the presence of IPLs, and therefore evidence of viable life in extraterrestrial samples.
Date Issued
2025-08-13
Date Acceptance
2025-06-06
Citation
npj Space Exploration, 2025, 1
ISSN
3059-3700
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Journal / Book Title
npj Space Exploration
Volume
1
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
3
Date Publish Online
2025-08-13