Question

Suppose that life exists elsewhere in the universe. all life must contain some type of genetic information, but alien genomes might not consist of nucleic acids and have the same features as those found in the genomes of life on earth. what might be the common features of all genomes, no matter where they exist

Answer 1

While alien genomes may be constructed by completely different molecules (for example, silicon based life forms are a possibility rather than carbon) it is logical to assume that all life forms would have some sort of protective mechanism to prevent the degradation of DNA during replication. Essentially, to prevent mutations and rapid aging, DNA, alien or otherwise, would have some types of telomeres. They might either be long chains of repeated or irrelevant code or molecules that would not be easily corrupted.