This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists have proposed what they believe is the first method for detecting "mirror life"—a hypothetical form of life made from molecular building blocks that are the mirror image of those found naturally on Earth. Researchers at the University of Strathclyde and the Department of Chemistry at Durham University have outlined a new approach that could identify mirror organisms using molecules which emit left- and right-handed light.
This provides a possible future surveillance tool should the ability to create such organisms ever emerge. The work is published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. Mirror life is considered a low-likelihood but potentially high-severity biosecurity threat.
There are international concerns that artificially created mirror organisms could interact with the natural world in unpredictable ways and potentially evade some of the biological defenses which protect humans, animals and plants. Scientists have called for restrictions on research aimed at creating the self-replicating mirror organisms. The potential risks have also been considered by governments and international organizations.
Even though left- and right-handed molecules have exactly the same atoms in the same order, they interact differently with living bodies. While one version of a medicine might cure an illness, the mirror-image version may do nothing or cause harm. The researchers, who stress that mirror life does not currently exist and their proposed method is intended as a contingency measure, use an approach involving circularly polarized luminescence (CPL).
A property of light, it can reveal information about the "handedness," or chirality, of molecules and biological structures. Circularly polarized light is already familiar in everyday applications—for example, it is used to create the stereoscopic effect in 3D movie glasses. The researchers propose using fluorescent probes which bind to structures within cells and produce distinctive CPL signals.
These signals could provide a molecular fingerprint indicating whether a biological sample has the conventional chirality found in terrestrial life or its mirror image/alternative. To minimize the possibility of false results, the paper proposes using a panel of different probes targeting several biological structures rather than relying on a single measurement. The proposed approach could be tested and developed using conventional biological samples without creating mirror organisms.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
