Researchers found that morning glory seeds can withstand very large doses of ultraviolet radiation.
Thus, there is new evidence that the seeds of some plant species are able to endure the travel between the planets through deep space.
It’s an old idea, known as panspermia — the hypothesis that life may have spread across the Universe via meteorites and comets. According to the study, morning glory seeds can survive even in strong ultraviolet radiation such as in space, with no DNA damage does not occur even after hundreds of years of use.
“We cannot say that we have evidence of the hypothesis of panspermia, but we can say that the ability of seeds to survive in such conditions makes this hypothesis more probable,” said one of the researchers David Tepfer, working in the Research center of the Palace of Versailles in France.
Other seeds who participated in the experiments, was burned to the ground, showing that the seeds of Abomey have certain properties that make them more tenacious. These seeds are relatively large, have a thick outer layer and can withstand decades before the fall into the favorable for germination the soil, which is why they were selected for this study.
Researchers believe that flavonoids in the outer protective layer of seeds act as a natural protection from strong ultraviolet radiation. Seeds of tobacco plants and arabidopsis thaliana plants were also included in the experiment as at the previous stage, they retained the ability to germinate after 558 days in space. But despite these promising results with the tobacco and A. thaliana are unable to withstand higher doses of UV radiation and died — so maybe it’s not the seeds that is to bring to Mars.
If some life forms can actually survive the journey through deep space, so it’s quite possible that the first life on Earth might appear from the outside.
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