Identifying molecules as biosignatures with assembly theory and mass spectrometry

Stuart M. Marshall, Cole Mathis, Emma Carrick, Graham Keenan, Geoffrey J. T. Cooper, Heather Graham, Matthew Craven, Piotr S. Gromski, Douglas G. Moore, Sara. I. Walker and Leroy Cronin ()
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Stuart M. Marshall: University of Glasgow
Cole Mathis: University of Glasgow
Emma Carrick: University of Glasgow
Graham Keenan: University of Glasgow
Geoffrey J. T. Cooper: University of Glasgow
Heather Graham: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Matthew Craven: University of Glasgow
Piotr S. Gromski: University of Glasgow
Douglas G. Moore: Arizona State University
Sara. I. Walker: Arizona State University
Leroy Cronin: University of Glasgow

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The search for alien life is hard because we do not know what signatures are unique to life. We show why complex molecules found in high abundance are universal biosignatures and demonstrate the first intrinsic experimentally tractable measure of molecular complexity, called the molecular assembly index (MA). To do this we calculate the complexity of several million molecules and validate that their complexity can be experimentally determined by mass spectrometry. This approach allows us to identify molecular biosignatures from a set of diverse samples from around the world, outer space, and the laboratory, demonstrating it is possible to build a life detection experiment based on MA that could be deployed to extraterrestrial locations, and used as a complexity scale to quantify constraints needed to direct prebiotically plausible processes in the laboratory. Such an approach is vital for finding life elsewhere in the universe or creating de-novo life in the lab.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23258-x

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