A generalised microbial cell model for methane biosignature predictions

Abstract

The majority of potentially habitable planets detected to date are likely quite different to Earth, for example, being larger in radius and mass, differing rotation rates and with host star spectra unlike the Sun. Therefore the first alien life detected will potentially be living in conditions not found on our planet. This necessitates a generalised approach to modelling biology that can be applied to numerous planetary scenarios, built on fundamental knowledge of life on Earth, but not limited by it. Here, we explore a generalised model of a microbial cell, whose metabolic rate is governed by thermodynamics and substrate diffusion across its cell wall. We model a single-species biosphere consisting of methane producing microbes and determine how changing the cell size, cell death rate and biomass synthesis cost influence the biosignature on the planet - in this case methane. We discuss approaches to predicting upper estimates for the biosignature gas abundance and the applicability of the model to other metabolisms. This tool adds to the body of work attempting to grapple with the complexity of potential alien biospheres.