Hitchhiking bacteria could compromise the detection of li...( Is there life on Mars? It's possible b...)

Is there life on Mars? It's possible, but it may not Martian, say scientists. New research, published in the open access journal BMC Microbiology, suggests that conditions on Mars are capable of supporting dormant bacteria, known as endospores. This raises concern about future attempts to detect Martian life forms because endospores originating on Earth could potentially hitch a ride to Mars and survive on its surface.

Soil on Mars is thought to be rich in oxidising chemicals that are known to destroy life. The high levels of ultraviolet radiation on the surface of the planet make it unlikely that any organism could survive. Ronald Crawford and colleagues from the University of Idaho have investigated whether bacterial endospores can exist in Mars's hostile environment.

Endospores are a survival form of bacteria, formed when they find themselves in an unfavourable environment, and are perhaps the most resilient life form on Earth. They are resistant to extreme temperatures, most disinfectants, radiation, drying, and can survive for thousands of years in this dormant state. There is even evidence that they can survive in the vacuum of space. Given the possibility of endospores hitching a lift on spacecraft bound for Mars, Ronald Crawford and his colleagues investigated whether endospores could survive in a simulated Martian environment.

Martian soil was created by mixing dry sand containing endospores with ferrate. The soil was then left at 20 oC and exposed to high levels of UV light for six weeks. These conditions were designed to simulate the dry, cold, oxidizing environment found on Mars. Subsequent analysis of the soil showed that endospores were still alive below a depth of 5mm, suggesting that life is possible in these hostile conditions.

The authors speculate, "that if entities resembling bacterial endospores were produced at some point by life forms on Mars, they might still be present and viable, given appropriate germina
'"/>

Contact: Gordon Fletcher
press@biomedcentral.com
44-207-323-0323
BioMed Central
3-Apr-2003

Page: 1 2
Related biology news :

1. Hitchhiking molecules could have survived fiery comet collisions with Earth, UC Berkeley experiment shows
2. Researchers find color sensitive atomic switch in bacteria
3. Cancer vaccine based on pathogenic listeria bacteria shows promise targeting metastases
4. Researchers create nanotubes that change colors, form nanocarpet and kill bacteria
5. Scientists discover potential new way to control drug-resistant bacteria
6. 22nd amino acid synthesized and added to genetic code of e. coli bacteria
7. Missing genes may help explain why plague bacteria are so deadly
8. Complex cells likely arose from combination of bacterial and extreme-microbe genomes
9. Stuck on you: Scientists lay bare secrets of bacterial attachment proteins
10. UC Irvine scientists to develop vaccine to combat bioterrorism threat from deadly bacteria
11. UV light, coatings reduce bacterial adhesion up to 50 percent