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The data in this book are new or updated, and will serve also as Origin of Life and evolutionary studies. Endospores of bacteria have a long history of use as model organisms in astrobiology, including survival in extreme environments and interplanetary transfer of life. Numerous other bacteria as well as archaea, lichens, fungi, algae and tiny animals (tardigrades, or water bears) are now being investigated for their tolerance to extreme conditions in simulated or real space environments. Experimental results from exposure studies on the International Space Station and space probes for up to 1.5 years are presented and discussed. Suggestions for extaterrestrial energy sources are also indicated.
Audience
Researchers and graduate students in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and astrobiology, as well as anyone interested in the search for extraterrestrial life and its technical preparations.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Preface xiii
Part I Extremophiles in Environments on Earth with Similarity to Space Conditions 1
1 Volcanic Steam Vents: Life at Low pH and High Temperature 3
Richard L. Weiss Bizzoco and Scott T. Kelley
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Steam Cave and Vent Sites 5
1.3 Steam Cave and Vent Sample Collection 5
1.4 Culture Isolation 13
1.5 Cell Structure of Isolates 16
1.6 Environmental Models 17
1.7 Conclusions 18
2 Rio Tinto: An Extreme Acidic Environmental Model of Astrobiological Interest 21
Ricardo Amils and David Fernández-Remolar
2.1 Introduction 21
2.2 Acidic Chemolithotrophy 22
2.3 Rio Tinto Basin 24
2.4 Biodiversity in the Tinto Basin 25
2.5 Tinto Basin Sedimentary Geomicrobiology 27
2.6 The Iberian Pyrite Belt Dark Biosphere 29
2.7 Methanogenesis in Non-Methanogenic Conditions 34
2.8 Rio Tinto: A Geochemical and Mineralogical Terrestrial Analog of Mars 35
2.9 Conclusions 37
3 Blossoms of Rot: Microbial Life in Saline Organic-Rich Sediments 45
Adrian-Stefan Andrei, Paul-Adrian Bulzu and Horia Leonard Banciu
3.1 Introduction 46
3.2 Overview of Saline Aquatic Systems 47
3.3 Prerequisites of Organic Carbon-Rich Sediment Genesis in Saline Lakes 48
3.4 Chemistry of Recent Organic Carbon-Rich Sediments in Saline Water Bodies 48
3.5 Microbial Life in Saline Sapropels 49
3.6 Relevance of Saline Sapropels 65
3.7 Concluding Remarks 65
4 The Haloarchaea of Great Salt Lake as Models for Potential Extant Life on Mars 83
Madelyn Bayles, Bradley C. Belasco, Alexander J. Breda, Calli B. Cahill, Adrik Z. Da Silva, Michael J. Regan Jr., Nicklaus K. Schlamp, Mariah P. Slagle and Bonnie K. Baxter
4.1 The Great Salt Lake System in the Bonneville Basin 84
4.2 The Transformation of an Ancient Wet Mars to a Modern Hostile Environment 89
4.3 Life in Evaporitic Minerals on Earth 95
4.4 Great Salt Lake Haloarchaea 97
4.5 Haloarchaea Have Superpowers for Extreme Lifestyles 99
4.6 Extant or Extinct Haloarchaea on Mars? 105
4.7 Conclusions and Insights 108
5 Arsenic-and Light Hydrocarbon-Rich Hypersaline Soda Lakes and Their Resident Microbes as Possible Models for Extraterrestrial Biomes 125
Ronald S. Oremland
5.1 Introduction 125
5.2 Mars 129
5.3 Enceladus 131
5.4 Titan 132
6 Antarctic Bacteria as Astrobiological Models 137
Carmel Abbott and David A. Pearce
6.1 Introduction 138
6.2 Antarctica as an Analogous Environment for Astrobiology 139
6.3 Astrobiological Environments of Interest 142
6.4 Bacterial Adaptations to Extreme Environments as Analogues for Astrobiology 143
6.5 Antarctic Bacteria as Analogues for Astrobiology 145
6.6 Endemic Antarctic Bacteria used in Astrobiology 146
6.7 Cosmopolitan Bacteria Found in Antarctica and used in Astrobiology 151
6.8 Conclusion 152
7 Extremophilic Life in Our Oceans as Models for Astrobiology 161
Robert Y. George
7.1 Introduction 162
7.2 Southern Ocean Ecosystem: West Antarctic Peninsula Region 162
7.3 Sea Ice Decline in WAP and Ice Shelf Collapse in Amundsen Sea 162
7.4 Deoxygenation Leading toward Hypoxic Zone in Amundsen Sea 164
7.5 Microbial Extremophiles in Southern Ocean 165
7.6 Chemosynthetic Abyssal Ecosystems 166
7.7 Hydrothermal Activity in Hrad Vallis on Mars 170
7.8 Why Chemosynthetic Ecosystems Remind Us of Environmental Conditions When Life O
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Joseph Seckbach earned his MSc and PhD from the University of Chicago, and was postdoc at Caltech, Pasadena, CA. He is retired from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and spent periods in research in the USA: UCLA, Harvard, Baton-Rouge (LSU); in Germany (Tübingen and Munich as an exchange scholar). He has edited a series of books "Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology" and has edited more than 40 volumes and authored more than 140 research articles. His interest is in astrobiology and iron in plants (phytoferritin).
Helga Stan-Lotter is emeritus Professor of Microbiology at the University of Salzburg, Austria. She obtained her PhD degree from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. She was a postdoc at the University of Calgary, Canada, a research associate at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and held a US National Research Council Fellowship at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Her scientific interests are extremophilic microorganisms and astrobiology.
Zusammenfassung
The data in this book are new or updated, and will serve also as Origin of Life and evolutionary studies. Endospores of bacteria have a long history of use as model organisms in astrobiology, including survival in extreme environments and interplanetary transfer of life. Numerous other bacteria as well as archaea, lichens, fungi, algae and tiny animals (tardigrades, or water bears) are now being investigated for their tolerance to extreme conditions in simulated or real space environments. Experimental results from exposure studies on the International Space Station and space probes for up to 1.5 years are presented and discussed. Suggestions for extaterrestrial energy sources are also indicated.
Audience
Researchers and graduate students in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology and astrobiology, as well as anyone interested in the search for extraterrestrial life and its technical preparations.
