Alternatives to DNA
I am in the process of creating my universe, and have based it on semi-hard science. The universe that I have created is quite extensive, and I thought that it would be unreasonable for the only kind of genetic material to exist to be DNA and or RNA, and yet I don't just want to come up with some outlandish, unrealistic alternative genetic material.
So my question is: Are there any molecules that could realistically serve as genetic material in place of DNA and RNA?
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1 answer
Xenonucleic acids (XNAs) (see also Wikipedia) may be what you're looking for.
XNAs are nucleic acids related to DNA, some of which can store information for organisms in the same way that DNA does for life as we know it. These six are
- HNA (anhydrohexitol nucleic acid)
- CeNA (cyclohexene nucleic acid)
- LNA (locked nucleic acid)
- GNA (glycol nucleic acid)
- PNA (peptide nucleic acid)
- TNA (threose nucleic acid)
Of these, the latter four are perhaps the best-studied.
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