NASA discovers unique new life form

I haven't really done research on this so I can't say for certain, but ALL the bacteria organisms I have come across were assumed to have a DNA composition that contains (2) phosphate. Unfortunately my specialty wasn't in bacteria based organisms.

@Kabanaw: Could you explain how As results in forming stronger bonds? Did you read it from the paper or are you deriving this from its placement in the periodic table. Because arsenic is a larger chemical element and may therefore induce steric hindrance when covalently bonded to sugar. Therefore causing massive kinks in the overall structure of the As DNA molecule. In addition, if it is in the same group it should have the same valence electrons as phosphate. Therefore I'm not sure where you are deriving the bonding strength, however I know that you probably have a good explanation and am curious to hear it. Also note that toxicity alone can't be chalked up to stronger/weaker bonds or innate elemental features. This completely ignores Biochemistry which explains how the body intakes chemical compounds and uses them for nutrition. Fundamental to this processing are a series of enzymes that are utilized in order to use chemical ions for human use.

Electronegativity. Essentially, the greater the difference in electronegativity, the more polar the bonds are. Even though Phosphorous have about the same electronegativity, so their bonds are relatively the same polarity. However, arsenate is poisonous to humans for a reason it would not be poisonous to bacteria:

Arsenate poisoning

Arsenate can replace inorganic phosphate in the step of glycolysis that produces 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate, yielding 1-arseno-3-phosphoglycerate instead. This molecule is unstable and quickly hydrolyzes, forming the next intermediate in the pathway, 3-phosphoglycerate. Therefore glycolysis proceeds, but the ATP molecule that would be generated from 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate is lost - arsenate is an uncoupler of glycolysis, explaining its toxicity.[1]

Edit: wait, this bacteria does use ATP, so I'm confused as to why Arsenic is not poisonous to these bacteria. But I do know that it doesn't have any real application for medical science, this is essentially just support for the idea that life does not need earth's exact chemical makeup to exist, which was already present.

lol@nerds arguing over this... you can just stop cause your arguments wont contribute to anything in science anyway. We'll let the scientists do their job even though they were like 'omg, this is interesting!' while you guys are like 'pft, we totally knew it existed!'.

Wow! Thank you for opening my eyes! I will stop discussing scientific matters because it doesn't contribute anything!

While I'm doing that, how about you stop making stupid posts that contribute nothing to a thread?