The hypothetical study of the hereditary information system used by extraterrestrial life, which may bear no resemblance to Earth's DNA/RNA/protein model. It's the search for the "code of life" when the coding language, hardware, and storage medium are all unknown. Could it be based on different nucleotides, use a quadruple helix, be stored in crystalline lattices, or be a non-chemical informational pattern? Alien genetics posits that DNA is just Earth's local software, and the galactic app store has other, unimaginable programs for building and running a organism.
Example: An Alien Genetics lab wouldn't sequence "genes"; it would try to decipher how a silicon-based microbe on Titan passes on its structural lattice patterns to its "offspring," or how a plasma-based entity in a star's atmosphere maintains its coherent form and replicates information magnetically. It's genetics without the central dogma.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026
Get the Alien Genetics mug.The artificial combination of genetic material from two or more distinct species (which would not normally interbreed) to create a novel hybrid organism. This goes beyond traditional cross-breeding to direct genetic engineering, potentially mixing animal, plant, and even microbial traits. Goals could range from creating crops with extreme drought resistance (by adding cactus genes) to speculative "chimera" animals for labor or companionship, raising serious ethical and ecological containment questions.
Genetic Hybridization Example: Scientists have created Genetic Hybridizations like "glowing plants" by inserting firefly luciferase genes. A speculative example is engineering a "Vacuum Hog," a hybrid organism for Mars with a lichen's hardiness, a pig's efficient digestion, and a plant's gas exchange to process regolith into soil inside a pressurized dome.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 3, 2026
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