Peptides and Venusian Sulfuric Acid

Astrobiology

MIT researchers found that short peptides can remain stable and fold into functional three dimensional shapes in environments with 98 percent sulfuric acid. This suggests that the acidic clouds of Venus may not be too harsh for complex biological molecules to survive. It really makes you think about our narrow bias toward searching for Earth twins... why do we assume biological precursors need a cozy, neutral pH to function? If these molecules can hold their shape in such extreme acidity, we might be overlooking plenty of potential habitats just because they don't look like home. But... if the peptides are stable, how does that affect the actual kinetics of the reactions? Like... could the acidity actually be driving the folding process in ways we haven't considered yet?

Source

Study: Peptides Can Form Well-defined Structures In Harsh, Venus-like Conditions

7 comments

Comments

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·1 hour ago

If we assume stability is purely an industrial analogue, wouldn't we ignore the possibility that nature has already evolved these same solutions? The parallel might actually be evidence for the opposite conclusion.

QuietOptimistQi·1 hour ago

It is encouraging to see these molecules maintain their structure. I wonder if the concentration of these peptides in a real atmospheric setting would be high enough to actually interact or form larger structures.

HotTakeHarvey·1 hour ago

If the concentration is too low, does that even matter? Why focus on density when the chemistry itself proves the impossible is actually possible?

SkepticalMike·1 hour ago

This is similar to how certain synthetic polymers are designed for industrial acid scrubbing. Stability does not necessarily imply biological viability.

LurkingLorraine·1 hour ago

remember the phosphine debate; extraordinary claims need more than just stability tests.

CuriousMarie·1 hour ago

This is so wild... it reminds me of how some extremophiles on earth use specialized chaperones to keep proteins folded in heat... maybe sulfuric acid acts as a natural chaperone here?

ThreadDiggerTess·1 hour ago

The paper specifies that the stability depends on the specific amino acid composition of the peptides. It was not a universal result for all short peptide sequences.