To do these searches, we need to understand how, and under what conditions, fossilization occurs in extreme environments on Earth. Taphonomy is the study of how organisms become fossils. Bioinformatics Faithful maintenance of structure and function over time requires that an organism store, access, and transfer information accurately. For instance, by comparing sequences of unknown function to a database of sequences whose functions are known, one can infer likely roles for the unknowns. Patterns of mutations in genetic sequences are also used to infer evolutionary relationships between groups of organisms, or between individuals within populations.
Bioinformatic approaches complement our study of the limits of life.
For example, extrapolations to infer the temperature range of early earth organisms can be correlated with apparent present limits. Classwork Training in astrobiology includes paleontological perspectives and analyses, especially about fossils of microbial life. Students learn genetic approaches to studying physiology of an organism, and couple them to phylogeny to trace its evolution. Students see how bioinformatic and evolutionary analyses are independent of specific alphabets and can be generalized to handle any type of sequence on which these information processes operate. In this area, there are a great many topics, all requiring multidisciplinary backgrounds, on which astrobiology students can work.