Centro de Astrobiología

Seminario 13-3-2020. *APLAZADO* The potential of lipid biomarkers as forensic tools for the search of life

** Lamentamos comunicar que el seminario ha sido aplazado por la situación excepcional en la que se encuentra la Comunidad de Madrid, donde se ubica el Centro de Astrobiología. Se anunciará una nueva fecha por este mismo canal. **

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Ponente: Laura Sánchez García. Departamento de Evolución Molecular del Centro de Astrobiología.


Día: 13 de marzo de 2020
Hora: 12:00

Streaming: Canal de YouTube del CAB



Título: "The potential of lipid biomarker as forensic tools for the search of life"

Resumen: Molecular biomarkers are natural products that can be assigned to a particular biosynthetic origin. One key aspect to be considered a good biomarker is its potential for preservation over time. Lipids are structural components of cell membranes that successfully fullfil that requirement, being highly resistant biopolymers able to preserve for billions of years under adequate conditions (mild diagenesis). This makes them excellent candidates for tracing biosignatures and past environmental conditions in ancient samples. Combined with compound-specific isotopic analysis, lipids gain specificity as biomarkers and become powerful forensic tools that provide unique “fingerprints” of biosynthetic pathways, organismic sources, environmental conditions, processing or alteration. For all these reasons, lipids have been considered one of the target compounds to pursue in future astrobiological missions to Mars carrying the instrument (GC-MS instruments) needed for their detection.