Comparison of known biotas

This article compares the biochemistry and characteristics of the biotas within the populated cosmos.

Overview

Feature		Cevobiota				Maiabiota	Zoabiota	Kannobiota	Telebiota	Araiobiota	Enyabiota	Atavalpobiota	Clannadobiota
		Cytobiota	Erdobiota	Vitobiota	Óótobiota
Planet		World		Julee	Elm	Maaya	Celiane	Kanno	The Farthest Land	Arai	Enya	Atahualpa	Clannad
Solvent		Water								Ammonia	Water
Genetic storage		DNA + RNA				INDs	GNA	FNLP	DNA + RNA	NPC	DNDP	FNDP	RNLP
Energy storage		ATP				Sphrigocalin (binds 3 potassium ions for energy storage)	Polyphosphate chains	Pyrroloquinoline quinone	GTP	Corrin-like molecule, redox based	?	Pyrroloquinoline quinone	Polyphosphate chains
Chirality of...	Amino acids	Levous				Levous	Dextrous	Levous	Dextrous	Levous	Dextrous	Dextrous	Levous
	Sugars	Dextrous				Levous	Levous	Dextrous	Levous	Levous	Levous	Dextrous	Dextrous
Amino acid count		20				26	12	23	22	18	21	28	25
Non-universal prolific characteristics
Blood oxygen binder		Iron (haemoglobin)	Clunium (clunocruorin)	Cobalt (coboglobin)	Iron (haemoglobin)	Iron (ferroglobin)	Iron-copper complex (FeCubin)	Iron (chlorocruorin)	Copper (haemocyanin)	Titanium (azotorespirin-W)	Nickel (niccocruorin)	Manganese (manganocruorin)	Copper (haemocyanin)
Photosynthetic pigment		Chlorophyll		Biliverdin	Phycoerythrin	Rhodopsin	Indigo	Lycopene	Bacteriochlorophyll e	Corrin-like violet pigment	Methylene blue	Chlorophyll	Riboflavin
Bone mineral		Hydroxyapatite				Whitlockite		Struvite-collagen complex	Lignin	Magnesium-ammonium-phosphate mineral	Hydroxyapatite		Struvite-collagen complex

Genetic storage

Deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acids

Main article: wikipedia:DNA

Glyconucleic acid

Glyconucleic acid.

GNA (glyconucleic acid) is the genetic storage polymer used by Celianese life. It consists of a glycol-phosphate backbone and two discrete nucleobases (2-amino-8-(2-thienyl)purine and 2-pyridone), forming Watson-Crick base pairs that form 4-base codons. This means that life in Celiane produces the fewest number of amino acids of any known biochemistry by far (only 12: Gly, Pro, Cys, His, Ser, Ala, Leu, Glu, Arg, Tyr, Gln, Val). The lack of amino acids is compensated by other macromolecules and cofactors (vitamins, minerals, organometallic compounds) filling the same niches.

As a result of this, Celianese organisms' biological processes tend to be strikingly different:

• Neural pathways are simpler and much more reliant on electrical synapses (over chemical).
• Immune systems are enzymatic rather than cellular.
• Fewer, simpler proteins entail less chances for misfolding and protein aggregation, rendering diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, etc., exceedingly rare, almost impossible.
• Faster, simpler biosynthetic processes lead to advantages such as faster wound healing and tissue regeneration.
• High-metal-cofactor systems require high-metal-content diets, specifically iron, copper, zinc, manganese and especially magnesium.
• Structures that might be keratinous in CEVO group organisms (fur, hair, claws, nails...) are instead primarily chitinous.
• Better chemical sensing capabilities due to higher cofactor diversity.

Inositol nucleic disc

Single IND. Position 2 is depicted darker and longer to denote its importance for hosting the start-stop group.

Inositol nucleic discs (abbreviated INDs) are the main Maayan genetic information storage chemical. They are almost-flat discs, a central cyclohexane-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol (myo-inositol) molecule in the middle, with positions 2, 3, 5 and 6 recording information by changing groups (methyl, amino, carboxyl and hydroxyl). These discs are stacked together in long cylindrical polymers, similar to DNA, linking together in positions 1 and 4 through phosphate groups. Position 2, being axial, serves as a start/stop point for enzymes reading the information.

With 4 states possible per 4 positions, the possible disc combinations add up to a total of 256 combinations. However, despite the large number of combinations, the genome only encodes for around 26 amino acids, with many disc configurations being redundant. This implies that there is a hard limit of possible amino acid biosynthesis pathways. The leading theory is that ancestral lifeforms on Maaya encoded for many more amino acids, but only those with few remained, while every other evolutionary line perished due to exponentially more frequent and deadly protein misfolding and Alzheimer's-like aggregation events. As proteins became bigger and more complex, there were more opportunities for them to synthesise wrong. Even today, one of the top death causes among amono is ACS (amono cerebrosclerosis, the hardening of brain tissue due to massive protein aggregation), almost as common as cancer.

INDs are highly mutation-resistant as a result of their chemical stability. However, genetic repair enzymes on Maaya are much less efficient than their CEVO group equivalents (the biological unit group that includes World and Earth cells), making it easier for a mutation to slip through and become a permanent, inheritable part of the genome.

A common genetic issue is the sticking together of the oppositely-charged carboxyl and amino groups in the genome. This condition (called cytoplasmic potassium salt deficiency or CPSD) arises from imbalances in the usually potassium-salt-rich nuclear cytoplasm, which shields these groups from interacting. The IND strands become tangled and unreadable, leading to cells undergoing rapid necrosis if K-salts (especially potassium sulfate) are not reintroduced into the system.

Nucleic dendropolymer

FNDP visualised.

NDPs (nucleic dendropolymers), chiefly gene-trees, are the main Atahualpan and Enyan genetic information storage chemicals. They are dendritic polymers that encode information in tridimensional patterns, using deoxyribose in Enya and fuculose in Atahualpa as backbones, and about three to four distinct bases for actual storage. The kind of branch encodes the type of amino acid being encoded, with the nucleobases at the ends providing further specification. These patterns (of 3 bases in Enya and 4 in Atahualpa) are somewhat hard to predict, and mutations would be very common, were it not for genetic repair enzymes in these biotas being very efficient. Mutations occur at about the same pace as they do in DNA-based organisms.

Fuculonucleic dendropolymer, being capable of making very complex proteins with the 28 amino acids it encodes for, can also cause problems in the long run. Atavalpobiota suffer from an elevated risk of protein misfolding and aggregation diseases, even more than maiabiota.

Nucleic laminar polymer

Visual representation of Kannoan FNLP.

NLPs (nucleic laminar polymers), chiefly genetic tape or genetic laminar, are the main Kannoan and Clannadian genetic information storage chemicals. They are long, flat molecular ribbons that store information through patterns utilising two chemicals, the bases. These bases form two- (in simpler organisms) to six-base-wide lines (in most multicellular life) that go horizontally across the tape's width.

An important distinguishing factor of NLPs is their continuous-pattern genomes: each line in the genetic code influences the next. Sequences of lines form semi-predictable patterns, owing to the tendency of their bases to form labyrinthine chemical patterns. This pattern-based structure is inherently self-healing, in that, were a mutation to occur, enzymes would rapidly recognise it and rearrange the molecules to match the surrounding pattern. However, this system is not perfect, and lines that are "close enough" to matching the surrounding pattern are left as-is. This provides the NLPs with ample room to mutate and adapt to environmental constraints.

Kannoan FNLP (fuconucleic laminar polymer) uses fucose backbones and 2-aminopyrimidine and 2,4-dioxopyrimidine for data encoding, while Clannadian RNLP (ribonucleic laminar polymer) uses ribose backbones, much like RNA. These two biochemistries are fundamentally incompatible:

• Kannoan FNLP is typically six bases wide, while Clannadian RNLP usually has only five.
• Even in sequences with the same width, the same base combinations encode for different amino acids.

Nucleic polycobaltocene

NPC visualised.

Nucleic polycobaltocene (NPC for short) is the main method of genetic encoding in Arai. Unlike all other known life taxa, Arai life is unique in its use of the inherent magnetic properties of different metal ion oxidation states for data storage, instead of chemical reactions. This works due to the planet's freezing cold temperatures helping to maintain magnetic properties stable, and the use of ammonia as a solvent instead of water.

NPC makes use of cobalt in three distinct oxidation states: the diamagnetic Co⁺ and Co³⁺ and the paramagnetic Co²⁺. These cobalt ions are bound together by cyclopentadienyl anions in a Co-Cp-Co-Cp-[...] structure, giving the molecule a slightly twisting rod shape. "Codons" in this system are 3 cobalts long, thus allowing for 27 combinations that encode a total of 18 amino acids. Mutations are known to happen, primarily in the form of oxidation state changes (Co³⁺ ↔ Co²⁺ ↔ Co⁺). Due to its molecular structure as a polymetallocene, NPC is the thinnest genetic polymer known to exist.

Metabolic strains have led Arai life to find ways to greatly regulate cobalt levels in their cytoplasm. The main distinguishing feature of cobonephrotes (the domain containing the extinct organic stage nene) is the development of a specialised organelle, the cobonephrus, which regulates cobalt levels in the cell, filtering out excess and warning the organism whenever there is a deficiency. Other cellular characteristics include acrylonitrile cell membranes and polyphosphazene cell walls.

Due to the very nature of NPC's data storage, high temperatures and strong magnetic fields might tear apart the genome, leading to effects similar to radiation exposure.