SWJJ
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I think the important thing to remember is that it doesn't appear that all of the P is replaced with As. I can see some sort of modified structure with just enough P to hold it together while the As is substituted in. Also remember that the bacteria were normal and had P. When they divide they would assumingly split the P equally. So each would still have some P. They also couldn't remove all traces of P from the media. Which is puzzling to me since I think that would be easy...there is not airborne source of P so your only P source is the water you used. Only way i see it is with some of the contaminants in the stuff added to the water.
Much like when hydrothermal vents were discovered... there will be alot of conjecture and what ifs. BUT after more groups start looking at this and the knowledge base expands, we will start to find out if DNA is purely AS or if its some sort of hybrid.
It may be a step to say life could have evolved twice on Earth. more than likely this is the case of bacteria finding a way and showing that life might not be as difficult to find.
There are a whole bunch of As rich areas.... when we find something more complex than a bacteria...that when the fun begins and biochemistry gets rewritten.
Completely agree. I would suspect that there is a tolerance point. As certain % a vs P% where the bacteria can no longer survive.
How different biochemically are the complex organisms near hydrothermal vents than organisms if nonextreme environments?