Mr. W. Brigham Klyce Profile

W. Brigham Klyce

at Panspermia

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Proceedings Article | 15 October 2012 Paper

GTOs and HGT: genes are older than expected and can be installed by horizontal gene transfer, especially with help from viruses

Brig Klyce

Proceedings Volume 8521, 85210C (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.930131

KEYWORDS: Genetics, Viruses, Clocks, Organisms, Biology, Planets, Oceanography, Proteins, Astrobiology, Oxygen

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Proceedings Article | 11 September 2009 Paper

Panspermia and horizontal gene transfer

Brig Klyce

Proceedings Volume 7441, 74410T (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.832049

KEYWORDS: Viruses, Genetics, Photosynthesis, Computer programming, Nervous system, Astrobiology, Proteins, Oxygen, Chemical analysis, Software development

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Proceedings Article | 14 September 2006 Paper

Bacterial utilization of L-sugars and D-amino acids

Elena Pikuta, Richard Hoover, Brig Klyce, Paul Davies, Pauline Davies

Proceedings Volume 6309, 63090A (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.690434

KEYWORDS: Molecules, Microorganisms, Proteins, Bacteria, Organisms, Comets, Tissues, Carbon, Crystals, Polymers

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The fact that organotrophic organisms on Earth use L-amino acids and D-sugars as an energy source is recognized as one of the universal features of life. The chirality of organic molecules with asymmetric location of group-radicals was described a relatively long time ago. Louis Pasteur observed that abiotic (chemical) processes produced mixtures with equal numbers (racemic) of the two forms but that living organisms possessed a molecular asymmetry that included only one of the enantiomers (homochirality). He speculated that the origin of the asymmetry of chiral biomolecules might hold the key to the nature of life. All of the amino acids in proteins (except for Glycine which is symmetrical) exhibit the same absolute steric configuration as L-glyceraldehyde. D-amino acids are never found in proteins, although they do exist in nature and are often found in polypeptide antibiotics. Constitutional sugars of cells, opposite to the amino acids, are the D-enantiomers, and the appearance of L-sugars in Nature is extremely rare. Notwithstanding this fact, the metabolism of some bacteria does have the capability to use amino acids and sugars with alternative chirality. This property may be caused by the function of specific enzymes belonging to the class of isomerases (racemases, epimerases, isomerases, tautomerases). In our laboratory, we have investigated several anaerobic bacterial strains, and have found that some of these bacteria are capable of using D-amino acids and L-sugars. Strain BK1 is capable of growth on D-arginine, but its growth characteristics on L-arginine are approximately twice as high. Another alkaliphilic strain SCA^T (= ATCC BAA-1084^T = JCM 12857^T = DSM 17722^T = CIP 107910^T) was found to be capable of growth on L-ribose and L-arabinose. It is interesting that this strain was incapable of growth on D-arabinose, which suggests the involvement of some alternative mechanism of enzyme activity. In this paper, we describe the preliminary results of these microbiological studies and discuss some possible implications.

Proceedings Article | 3 August 2001 Paper

Panspermia asks new questions

Brig Klyce

Proceedings Volume 4273, (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.435366

KEYWORDS: Planets, Bacteria, Comets, Contamination, Biology, Genetics, Microorganisms, Earth's atmosphere, Mars, Ultraviolet radiation

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 1998 Paper

Panspermia in perspective

Nalin Wickramasinghe, F. Hoyle, Brig Klyce

Proceedings Volume 3441, (1998) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.319845

KEYWORDS: Comets, Bacteria, Particles, Molecules, Microorganisms, Planets, Ultraviolet radiation, Data modeling, Astronomy, Stars

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Conference Committee Involvement (1)

Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology XVII

9 August 2015 | San Diego, California, United States

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