Common microbes survive pressures equal to those found at 50 kilometers inside the Ea...( Until now scientists thought that only...)

Until now, scientists thought that only specially adapted organisms they call extremophiles could exist in seemingly intolerable environments such as high-pressure, high-temperature oceanic hydrothermal vents or in the ice sheets of Antarctica. A study published in the February 22, 2002, issue of Science, however, shows that even common bacteria are viable under high-pressure conditions equivalent to about 50 kilometers beneath the Earths crust or 160 kilometers in a hypothetical sea. This finding may expand the habitable zone for life within the solar system and it opens new doors for looking for life much deeper inside planetary bodies than previously considered. According to Dr. Anurag Sharma the lead author, It is exciting to observe the microbes under such unusual environments. Their continued biological activity says a lot about their resilience.

The scientific team is headed by Sharma and James Scott at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. They adapted the tools of high-pressure physics to microbiology by using diamond anvil cells to subject two bacteria species-E. coli commonly found in the human gut, and the metal reducing Shewanella oneidensis-to pressures up to 16 thousand times the pressure found at sea level. This is a very high-pressure condition for biology. Since liquid water turns into a solid high-pressure ice even at room temperature, these conditions are typically considered inhospitable, says Sharma.

Both E. coli and Shewanella use formate in their metabolic processes in the absence of oxygen. With molecular spectroscopy, the Carnegie team measured the microbes use of formate to determine their metabolic rates. Optical observations on stained bacteria further confirmed their viability and found that they can survive pressures far beyond those of deep ocean trenches and in the deep crust. The techniques developed by Sharma and Scott will open the door for the real time examination of pressure an
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Contact: Anurag Sharma or James Scott
202-478-8957
Carnegie Institution
21-Feb-2002

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