A research-team at Boise State is investigating short DNA sequences that are not found in any species, to see if any of these are "incompatible with life" — sequences so immediately and authoritatively terminal that they have evolved into extinction.
"It's like looking for a needle that's not actually in the haystack," says Greg Hampikian, professor of genetics at Boise State University in Idaho, who is leading the project. "There must be some DNA or protein sequences that are not compatible with life, perhaps because they bind some essential cellular component, for example, and have therefore been selected out of circulation. There may also be some that are lethal in some species, but not others. We're looking for those sequences."
(via /.)
