Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42574614›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Molecular assembly as a universal biosignature measurable by mass spectrometry.

Lindsay A Rutter, Abhishek Sharma, Ian Seet, David Obeh Alobo, An Goto, Leroy Cronin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Molecular assembly as a universal biosignature measurable by mass spectrometry.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Lindsay A Rutter *School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.
Abhishek Sharma *School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.
Ian SeetSchool of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.
David Obeh AloboSchool of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.
An GotoSchool of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.
Leroy CroninSchool of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-8035-5757

Funding

UKRI | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (SRC) EP/L023652/1 EP/R01308X/1 EP/S019472/1 and EP/P00153X/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Detecting life beyond Earth requires biosignatures that do not depend on the chemistry of known organisms. Molecular assembly (MA), derived from Assembly Theory, quantifies how difficult it is to build a molecule from basic building blocks, linking complexity directly to selection and evolution. Here, we show that MA can serve as a universal biosignature that is both interpretable and experimentally measurable. Unlike information-theoretic measures, MA can be inferred directly from mass spectrometry data without structural elucidation. We demonstrate this using a machine learning model trained on standardized single-stage (MS

Indexed as

assembly theoryastrobiologycomplexitymachine learning

Identifiers

PMID42574614
PMCPMC13486590

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.