3d ago

Mirror life is a scientific fantasy leading to a dangerous reality − a synthetic biologist explains how mirror bacteria could conquer life on Earth.

theconversation.com Mirror life is a scientific fantasy leading to a dangerous reality − a synthetic biologist explains how mirror bacteria could conquer life on Earth

Synthetic cells that look just like natural cells but are chemically reversed could outcompete other living organisms − with dire consequences for human health and the environment.

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Existing biology cannot feed on mirror biochemistry :
... would “sniff” it with their receptors and move on because these cells can’t bind.
Conversely, we can suppose mirror life couldn't feed on existing organic matter. Of course, we should never take such a dangerous gamble.
- It's not about whether they'd eat complex proteins.
  It's whether mirror bacteria and microorganisms could out-compete existing bacteria and MOs for the basic un-mirrored building blocks of life, e.g. sugars such as glucose.
  Without mirror predators, the mass of mirror bacteria and MOs would increase and increase, while there would be less existing life.
  Existing higher-order organisms such as plants, fungi, and your digestive system, that depend on the existing bacteria and their existing products, would have less consumable food in the midst of indigestible mirror crud.
  
  (...) e.g. sugars such as glucose.
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-Glucose
  L-Glucose is an organic compound with formula (...) As the L-isomer of glucose, it is the enantiomer of the more common d-glucose.
  Well ... i understand what you try to say and i understand what this article was about ... but still what i said before holds true.
  I can even expand on my previous statement with an hypothesis ; that the reason why mirror life didn't evolve would be because our present life is toxic to it, the same way we fear that other (mirror) life would be toxic to us, and this would explain, what is now puzzling for some biologist, on the question of : why we don't see the other type of life.
  
  I want a novel about this