Mirror-image life

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Mirror-image life (also called mirror life) is a hypothetical form of life using mirror-reflected molecular building blocks. [1]

Contents

The successful creation of mirror-image life had previously been the goal of some scientists as a scientific achievement and a potential tool for biomanufacturing of mirror-image molecules. [2] In 2024, a team of 38 scientists, including two Nobel laureates and several researchers involved in its development, published a report suggesting that mirror-image life could pose serious risks to health and the environment. [3] Unlike simple mirror-image molecules, mirror-image organisms such as bacteria could reproduce and might irreversibly spread through ecosystems. Such bacteria may also be able to evade many components of immune systems, causing fatal infections in humans, animals, and plants. Some scientists, bioethicists, policymakers, and civil society groups have recommended that governance be established to ensure that mirror-image life is not created, [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] and some funders have refused to support research with the goal of creating mirror-image life. [10] [11] Discussions are ongoing about the risks of mirror life and appropriate governance.

Certain mirror-image components of molecular machinery have been synthesized in laboratories and efforts to chemically synthesize a mirror-image ribosome have been ongoing since 2016. [12] [13] Although entire mirror organisms could in principle be created, [14] [15] some scientists estimate 10 to 30 years before the creation of mirror-image life is possible. [3]

Concept

Homochirality

Many of the essential molecules for life on Earth can exist in two mirror-image forms, often called "left-handed" and "right-handed", but living organisms do not use both. [16] (Handedness refers to the direction in which polarized light skews when beamed through a pure solution of the molecule.) RNA and DNA contain only right-handed sugars; proteins made by the ribosome [a] are exclusively composed of left-handed amino acids. This phenomenon is known as homochirality. [17] It is not known whether homochirality emerged before or after life, whether the building blocks of life must have this particular chirality, or indeed whether life needs to be homochiral. [18] Protein chains built from amino acids of mixed chirality tend not to fold or function well, but mirror-image proteins have been constructed that have identical function but on substrates of opposite handedness. [17]

Possibility of mirror-image life

The possibility of mirror-image life has been discussed since Louis Pasteur's 1860 work on molecular asymmetry. [19] [20]

Advances in organic chemistry and synthetic biology may, in the future, lead to the possibility of fully synthesizing a living cell from small molecules, which could enable synthesizing mirror-image cells from mirrored versions (enantiomers) of life's building-block molecules. Some important proteins in the central dogma of molecular biology have been synthesized in mirror-image versions, including DNA polymerase in 2016 and RNA polymerase in 2022. [13]

Reconstructing regular lifeforms in mirror-image form, using the mirror-image (chiral) reflection of their cellular components, could be achieved by substituting left-handed amino acids with right-handed ones, in order to create mirror reflections of proteins, and likewise substituting right-handed with left-handed nucleic acids. [21] Because the phospholipids of cell membranes are also chiral, American geneticist George Church proposed using an achiral fatty acid instead of mirror-image phospholipids for the membrane. [21] [b]

Electromagnetism, the dominant interaction in chemistry, is unchanged under mirror-image transformation (P-symmetry). There is a small alteration of weak interactions under reflection, which can produce very small corrections that theoretically favor the natural enantiomers of amino acids and sugars, [24] but it is unknown if this effect is large enough to affect the functionality of mirror-image biomolecules or explain homochirality in nature. [25]

Potential risks

In December 2024, 38 scientists, including several synthetic biology researchers and two Nobel laureates, warned that the creation of mirror-image life could cause "unprecedented and irreversible harm" to human health and ecosystems worldwide. [3] [26] The reversed structure of mirror-image bacteria could allow them to evade many mechanisms critical for immunity and predation that have evolved to recognize natural-chirality structures. As a result, mirror-image bacteria could potentially escape immune defenses and invade natural ecosystems, leading to "pervasive lethal infections in a substantial fraction of plant and animal species, including humans." Given these risks, the scientists concluded that mirror-image organisms should not be created without compelling evidence of safety. [3] Currently, no researchers are known to be pursuing the creation of mirror life; several who had been pursuing it have since renounced it and signed on as coauthors on the 2024 paper. [27]

Since the publication of the 2024 paper, 96 biotechnology experts signed a statement agreeing with its conclusions, [4] and attendees of the first international conference on mirror-image life largely agreed that it should not be created. [5] Germany’s Central Commission for Biological Safety (ZKBS) issued a statement that while applied research on mirror biomolecules should continue, mirror bacteria could pose serious risks, and that “a broad scientific and societal debate” was necessary. [28] The UNESCO International Bioethics Committee recommended a precautionary global moratorium on the creation of mirror-image organisms, [9] and the UK Government Office for Science held an expert roundtable that recommended “prevent[ing] the development of replicating mirror organisms.” [6] Several philanthropic funders have also stated that they will not fund research with the goal of creating mirror-image organisms. [10] [11]

Some scientists and scholars have argued that concerns about mirror-image life are theoretical and that bans on research and funding bans are premature. [29] [30] Others have emphasized the importance of distinguishing between research on mirror-image molecules, which offer potential benefits, and the creation of whole mirror-image organisms, and proposed developing guidelines for synthetic biological entities regardless of their chirality. [31]

Potential applications of mirror-image molecules and organisms

The primary proposed benefit of creating mirror-image organisms is as a means to mass-produce mirror-image forms of molecules that are produced by normal life. Mirror-image molecules have been studied for several decades and may offer a range of potential applications. [32] Some scientists argue that chemical synthesis methods are sufficient for creating mirror-image molecules without posing the potentially catastrophic risks of mirror-image organisms. [33] [34]

Potential applications of mirror-image molecules include:

In fiction

The creation of a mirror-image human is the basis of the 1950 short story "Technical Error" by Arthur C. Clarke. [38] In this story, a physical accident transforms a person into his mirror image, speculatively explained by travel through a fourth physical dimension. H. G. Wells' The Plattner Story (1896) is based on a similar idea.

In the 1970 Star Trek novel Spock Must Die! by James Blish, the science officer of the USS Enterprise is replicated in mirror-image form by a transporter mishap. He locks himself in the sick bay where he is able to synthesize mirror-image forms of basic nutrients needed for his survival. [39]

An alien machine that reverses chirality, and a blood-symbiont that functions properly only when in one chirality, were central to Roger Zelazny's 1976 novel Doorways in the Sand . [40]

On the titular planet of Sheri S. Tepper's 1989 novel Grass , some lifeforms have evolved to use the right-handed isomer of alanine. [41]

In the Mass Effect series, chirality of amino acids in foodstuffs is discussed often in both dialogue and encyclopedia files.

In the 2014 science fiction novel Cibola Burn by James S. A. Corey, the planet Ilus has indigenous life with partially-mirrored chirality. This renders human colonists unable to digest native flora and fauna, and greatly complicates conventional farming. Consequently, the colonists have to rely upon hydroponic farming and food importation. [42]

In the 2017 Daniel Suarez novel Change Agent, an antagonist, Otto, nicknamed the "Mirror Man", is revealed to be a genetically engineered mirror-image human. Serving as an assassin due to his complete immunity to neurotoxins, which he coats himself with in the form of a cologne-like aerosol, he views other humans with disdain and causes them to feel an inexplicable repulsion by his very presence. [43]

The concept is used during Ryan North's 2023 run on Fantastic Four as an existential threat towards the human population. [44]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Many bacteria and fungi are able to synthesise non-ribosomal peptides containing right-handed amino acids, as the example of peptidoglycan synthesis shows.
  2. ↑ An achiral version of phospholipids is not strictly required, as both chiralities of phospholipids are already used in the cell membrane of existing life forms: eukaryotes and bacteria use one chirality (G3P) while archaea use the other (G1P). The two have even been mixed using genetic engineering, producing viable modified E. coli. [22] Genetic evidence for a natural mixed-membrane system have also been found, pending definitive proof by chemical analysis. [23]

References

  1. ↑ Singer, Emily (26 November 2014). "New twist found in the story of life's start". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  2. ↑ Sample, Ian (12 December 2024). "'Unprecedented risk' to life on Earth: Scientists call for halt on 'mirror life' microbe research". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Adamala, Katarzyna P.; Agashe, Deepa; Belkaid, Yasmine; Bittencourt, Daniela Matias de C.; Cai, Yizhi; Chang, Matthew W.; Chen, Irene A.; Church, George M.; Cooper, Vaughn S.; Davis, Mark M.; Devaraj, Neal K.; Endy, Drew; Esvelt, Kevin M.; Glass, John I.; Hand, Timothy W.; Inglesby, Thomas V.; Isaacs, Farren J.; James, Wilmot G.; Jones, Jonathan D. G.; Kay, Michael S.; Lenski, Richard E.; Liu, Chenli; Medzhitov, Ruslan; Nicotra, Matthew L.; Oehm, Sebastian B.; Pannu, Jaspreet; Relman, David A.; Schwille, Petra; Smith, James A.; Suga, Hiroaki; Szostak, Jack W.; Talbot, Nicholas J.; Tiedje, James M.; Venter, J. Craig; Winter, Gregory; Zhang, Weiwen; Zhu, Xinguang; Zuber, Maria T. (12 December 2024). "Confronting risks of mirror life". Science. 386 (6728): 1351–1353. doi:10.1126/science.ads9158.
  4. 1 2 "4.4 Risks from Mirror Life". The Spirit of Asilomar and the Future of Biotechnology summit (Report). Rice University. 2025. doi:10.25611/X89A-D947.
  5. 1 2 Paris Conference on Risks from Mirror Life (2025). Paris Conference on Risks from Mirror Life: Meeting Report (Report). Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17167205.
  6. 1 2 "Mirror life". UK Government Office for Science. 22 January 2025.
  7. ↑ "Mirror Life: Threats, Risks, & Governance Solutions Explained". Nuclear Threat Initiative. 15 January 2026.
  8. ↑ "Paris Conference on Risks from Mirror Life". Paris, France: Institut Pasteur and Mirror Biology Dialogues Fund. 12 June 2025. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  9. 1 2 International Bioethics Committee (2025). Report of the International Bioethics Committee (IBC) on the ethical issues of synthetic biology: research, development and application (Programme and meeting document). UNESCO. p. 58. SHS/IBC-32/2025/2. Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Matter-to-Life". Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
  11. 1 2 "Why We Won't Fund Research Towards the Creation of Mirror Organisms". Renaissance Philanthropy. 18 November 2025.
  12. ↑ Multiple sources:
  13. 1 2
  14. ↑ Rohden, Fabian; Hoheisel, Jörg D.; Wieden, Hans-Joachim (November 2021). "Through the looking glass: milestones on the road towards mirroring life". Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 46 (11): 931–943. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2021.06.006. ISSN   0968-0004. PMID   34294544.
  15. ↑ Harrison, K.; Mackay, A. S.; Kambanis, L.; Maxwell, J. W. C.; Payne, R. J. (1 May 2023). "Synthesis and applications of mirror-image proteins". Nature Reviews Chemistry. 7 (6): 383–404. doi:10.1038/s41570-023-00493-y. PMID   37173596.
  16. ↑ "Building a parallel universe". Wired UK. ISSN   1357-0978 . Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  17. 1 2 Plaxco, Kevin W.; Michael, Michael (2011). Astrobiology: A Brief Introduction. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 140–141. ISBN   978-1-4214-0194-2.
  18. ↑ Sedbrook, Danielle (28 July 2016). "Must the Molecules of Life Always be Left-Handed or Right-Handed?". Smithsonian.com. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  19. ↑ Pasteur, Louis (1905) [1860]. Researches on the Molecular Asymmetry of Natural Organic Products (PDF). Alembic Club Reprints, No. 14. Edinburgh: The Alembic Club.
  20. ↑ Siegel, J.S. (20 November 1992). "Left-handed comments". Science . 258 (5086): 1290. Bibcode:1992Sci...258.1289B. doi:10.1126/science.1455216. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   1455218.
  21. 1 2 Bohannon, John (2010). "Mirror-image cells could transform science - or kill us all". Wired. Vol. 18, no. 12. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020.
  22. ↑ Yokoi, Takeru; Isobe, Keisuke; Yoshimura, Tohru; Hemmi, Hisashi (2012). "Archaeal Phospholipid Biosynthetic Pathway Reconstructed in Escherichia coli". Archaea. 2012: 1–9. doi: 10.1155/2012/438931 . PMC   3357500 . PMID   22645416.
  23. ↑ Villanueva, Laura; Bastiaan von Meijenfeldt, F A; Westbye, Alexander B; Yadav, Subhash; Hopmans, Ellen C; Dutilh, Bas E; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S (1 January 2021). "Bridging the membrane lipid divide: bacteria of the FCB group superphylum have the potential to synthesize archaeal ether lipids". The ISME Journal. 15 (1): 168–182. Bibcode:2021ISMEJ..15..168V. doi: 10.1038/s41396-020-00772-2 . PMC   7852524 . PMID   32929208.
  24. ↑ Tranter, G.E. (January 1987). "Parity violation and the origins of biomolecular handedness". Biosystems. 20 (1): 37–48. Bibcode:1987BiSys..20...37T. doi:10.1016/0303-2647(87)90018-9. PMID   3580532.
  25. ↑ Quack, Martin; Seyfang, Georg; Wichmann, Gunther (2022). "Perspectives on parity violation in chiral molecules: theory, spectroscopic experiment and biomolecular homochirality". Chemical Science. 13 (36): 10598–10643. doi:10.1039/d2sc01323a. hdl: 20.500.11850/569820 . PMC   9491092 . PMID   36320700.
  26. ↑ Zimmer, Carl (12 December 2024). "A 'Second Tree of Life' Could Wreak Havoc, Scientists Warn". The New York Times .
  27. ↑ Adamala, Kate; Glass, John. "Mirror Bacteria Research Poses Significant Risks, Dozens of Scientists Warn". The Scientist. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  28. ↑ Zentrale Kommissionfür die Biologische Sicherheit (22 September 2025). "Spiegelbakterien". ZKBS (in German). Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  29. ↑ Peplow, Mark (2025). "How should 'mirror life' research be restricted? Debate heats up". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02902-2 . Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  30. ↑ Service, Robert F. (12 December 2024). "Leading scientists urge ban on developing 'mirror-image' bacteria". Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  31. ↑ Zhu, Ting (21 January 2025). "Mirror of the unknown: should research on mirror-image molecular biology be stopped?". Nature. 645: 588–591. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-02912-0.
  32. ↑ Bohannon, John (14 December 2010). "Building a Parallel Universe". Wired. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  33. ↑ "Mirror Image Biology: Pushing the Envelope in Designing Biological Systems – A Workshop". National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Retrieved 22 January 2026.
  34. ↑ Greg Went (29 September 2025). Dextera Biosciences, Commercial, and Investment Perspectives . Retrieved 22 January 2026– via Vimeo.
  35. ↑ Pedroni, Lorenzo; Dall'Asta, Chiara; Galaverna, Gianni; Dellafiora, Luca (2025). "Computational Perspectives on Amoxicillin and Staphylococcus Aureus in Mirror Life". Global Challenges. 9 (8) e00051. Bibcode:2025GloCh...900051P. doi: 10.1002/gch2.202500051 . PMC   12371197 . PMID   40860460.
  36. ↑ "A natural way to stay sweet". NASA. 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2024.
  37. ↑ Martinez, RF (5 December 2013). "Short and sweet: (D)-glucose to (L)-glucose and (L)-glucuronic acid". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 53 (4): 1160–2. doi:10.1002/anie.201309073. PMID   24310928. Epub 2013 Dec 5.
  38. ↑ "Technical Error". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  39. ↑ "Editions of Spock Must Die! by James Blish". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  40. ↑ "Doorways in the Sand". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  41. ↑ "Grass (Arbai, #1)". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  42. ↑ Noble, Barnes &. "Cibola Burn (Expanse Series #4)|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  43. ↑ Change Agent. ISBN   978-1-101-98466-6 . Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  44. ↑ "Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 1: Whatever Happened to the Fantastic Four?". mitpressbookstore.mit.edu. 11 July 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
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