ROLLA, Mo. -- In the wake of last month's announcement that scientists have found what they believe to be a living microbe that pre-dates Tyrannosaurus rex, Dr. Melanie Mormile is keeping one eye on salt crystals that contain ancient earth-bound bacteria and another on Mars.
Mormile, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri-Rolla and an expert on microscopic organisms, thinks living bacteria might be trapped in the sulphate and chloride salts of Mars. Her work is partially funded by NASA, which announced Oct. 26 that it has officially scheduled six robotic missions over the next ten years to hunt for signs of life on the red planet.
Meanwhile, at UMR, Mormile is in the process of conducting further research on salt crystals that contain trapped bacteria in an attempt to lend confirmation to an amazing report published in the October issue of the journal Nature.
One of Mormile's research peers, Dr. Russell Vreeland of West Chester University, is the co-author of the October Nature article, which announced the discovery of what Vreeland and his research group say is a 250-million-year-old microbe found in New Mexico salt deposits. The microbe, which is similar if not identical to a modern strain of bacteria, would be by far the oldest sample of a living bacterium ever found.
"Ideally, we'd like to find really ancient bacteria that have never been described before," says Mormile, who studies samples at UMR and confirms any exceptional findings through independent DNA testing. "That would help to rule out the possibility of contamination."
In order to date salt-loving bacteria on Earth, the age of the salt deposits must first be determined. By looking at individual salt crystals under a microscope, scientists are then able to find bacteria that are trapped in tiny bubbles. The trapped bacteria can be dated according to the age of the crystals.
Mormile's UMR lab is equipped with a special i
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Contact: Lance Feyh
lfeyh@umr.edu
573-341-4966
University of Missouri-Rolla
30-Oct-2000