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In my up coming novel this fall, I got the human crews as well as some humanoid alien species working and living onboard a FTL starship exploring an uncharted cluster of neutron stars and black holes. As the story progresses the starship will visit strange and unfamiliar worlds and add diversity to the existing crews, I'm seeking a carbon based living organism which doesn't share our cell structure or DNA for reproduction and I also need the unique environment to sustain such a lifeform. Last but not least how can it stay onboard the vessel without jeopardizing its life?

JDługosz
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user6760
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    Cells and DNA only seems most probable because it's happened. – Mołot Nov 05 '16 at 08:47
  • OT: Isn't it already late Autumn/Fall? How can you write a whole novel in what is at most a few days/a week of time that is left..? – dot_Sp0T Nov 05 '16 at 09:24
  • @dot_Sp0T: sir/madam please look over here for a moment, this thing on my hand is a standard issue neuralizer... [putting on a pair of sunglasses and did a wefie.] Lady & Gentleman today is... – user6760 Nov 05 '16 at 09:43
  • What? I don't understand that comment. – JDługosz Nov 05 '16 at 09:47
  • @JDlugosz: which comment? – user6760 Nov 05 '16 at 09:53
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    Besides the existing question here, ask Google for alternatives to dna. – JDługosz Nov 05 '16 at 09:53
  • The one about «putting on a pair of sunglasses and did a wefie.», immediately before mine. Is that supposed to make sense, that you don't even know what I’m saying «huh?» to? – JDługosz Nov 05 '16 at 09:58
  • @JDlugosz: no worry about it that's not related to the question – user6760 Nov 05 '16 at 09:59
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    @JDługosz I posed a question about a logical inconsistency and he pulled a Men in Black reference – dot_Sp0T Nov 05 '16 at 10:02
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    @dot_Sp0T But not in the Southern Hemisphere where it is Spring. The coming Autumn will then be in 2017. – a4android Nov 05 '16 at 10:49
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    This question would be clearer if updated based on the knowledge in the "Alternatives to DNA" question. As stated, it still seems to be asking for the duplicate information. If you remove that part of the question and instead replace it with your decision (even if only leaning), that would simplify this question. – Brythan Nov 05 '16 at 11:14
  • @a4android never considered it like that, I always used the names of seasons for collections of months which themselves are based off the position of earth relative to the sun – dot_Sp0T Nov 05 '16 at 11:14
  • @dot_Sp0T: Most people do, in both hemispheres. Though this does depend on where you are. The Japanese and Australian Aborigines, for examples, have different schemes for the seasons dependent on changes in the weather and changes to their local plant and animal life. Their seasons are much more close grained than the usual Western pattern. – a4android Nov 05 '16 at 11:55
  • This is a good question, but very, very broad - it asks what alternatives to DNA are, alternatives to cells are, how the body would work, how it could stay on a spaceship, and combinations that would meet all of these categories. Consider just starting with the DNA part and moving up slowly through other question posts. – Zxyrra Nov 05 '16 at 15:49
  • This may seem like a minor quibble, but you have "a FTL starship exploring an uncharted cluster of neutron stars and black holes." If there was a cluster of neutron stars and black holes anywhere in our galaxy it would be far from uncharted. It would be the focus of many astronomers, since there are aliens too, anywhere in the galaxy. The cluster would be well charted, but it might be unexplored. Sounds like a fun story. Hope you let us know when it falls due. – a4android Nov 07 '16 at 03:13

1 Answers1

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The only known non-cellular lifeforms are the viruses.

A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of other organisms. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.

This suggests the most probable environment where a virus can exist, is inside the living cells of other organisms. This might be extended to some sort of generalized organic system. OK. A mass of organic or biological material, possibly undifferentiated, rather like a living blob or perhaps an organic pool.

The origins of viruses in the evolutionary history of life are unclear: some may have evolved from plasmids—pieces of DNA that can move between cells—while others may have evolved from bacteria. In evolution, viruses are an important means of horizontal gene transfer, which increases genetic diversity.[7] Viruses are considered by some to be a life form, because they carry genetic material, reproduce, and evolve through natural selection. However they lack key characteristics (such as cell structure) that are generally considered necessary to count as life. Because they possess some but not all such qualities, viruses have been described as "organisms at the edge of life",[8] and as replicators.

Source for the above quotations is the Wikipedia entry on viruses.

The OP has been given references to sources of information about alternatives to DNA, in the comments above, these do not need to be duplicated in this answer.

Brythan
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a4android
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  • While I agree that viruses fit the OP's criteria, they may not have the level of intelligence or size to interact with a ship crew. Would there be a way for viruses to evolve to or reach that point? – Zxyrra Nov 05 '16 at 15:51
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    See life without cells. What you describe is known as a cell-free culture. – JDługosz Nov 05 '16 at 19:07
  • @JDługosz: Well, well. Cell-free cultures are new to me. To think I only hypothesized their existence & there they are in the real world.. I really should have made the connection to a syncytium. Always something new to learn. – a4android Nov 06 '16 at 03:00
  • @Zxyrra: That's why I immersed the viruses in, what I now known, as a cell-free culture. Provided it can develop sensoria and some information processing capacity (plus memory & communications channels) it should be on the way to gaining sapience. This concept gives the OP something to build on for an acellular lifeform. – a4android Nov 06 '16 at 03:03
  • Well, I hope you upvoted the referenced post! ☺ – JDługosz Nov 06 '16 at 04:00
  • Re-reading my old post, I note that Needle explained the creature as decended from viruses somehow. So @zxyrra, read Hal Clement for a belevable way, written by a biochemist. – JDługosz Nov 06 '16 at 04:03
  • @JDługosz Sorry, to correct you, but Clement was an astronomy graduate with post-graduate degrees in education and chemistry. He was good at sticking to scientific credibility. As a science teacher he taught astronomy and chemistry at Milton Academy. Massachusetts. One of nature's nice guys. Had the good fortune to meet him, chat about alien life in the accretion disc of a black hole & get my copy of his Best of collection signed. – a4android Nov 06 '16 at 11:39
  • Another se had a big debate as to whether it was ok for math teachers to call themselves mathematicians. I guess a chemestry teacher is not a chemist, too. – JDługosz Nov 07 '16 at 04:52
  • @JDługosz; Clement was enough of a scientist, by training and as a teacher, to be a science fiction writer. This doesn't make him a scientist, because SF isn't exactly science, but he was scientifically cogniscant which counts here. – a4android Nov 07 '16 at 09:48