Mapping life on Earth could predict finding it on Mars

A geologist from Washington University in St. Louis is developing new techniques to render a more coherent story of how primitive life arose and diverged on Earth — with implications for Mars.

Carrine Blank, Ph.D., Washington University assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has some insight concerning terrestrial microbes that could lead to provocative conclusions about the nature of life on Mars and other planets.

Blank approaches the task by resolving phylogenetic trees. These trees, based upon genetic sequencing data, trace the genetic relationships between what we think of as primitive organisms through trait development. The relationships between early forms of life can illuminate the relationships between organisms present on Earth today — which fossil evidence and a method called isotopic fractionation have failed to show conclusively.

•	Mapping life on Earth could predict finding it on Mars Universe Today Online, Wednesday, May 11, 2005

	Story also ran in 2 others:  Innovations Report (Germany) and Space Daily