Some strange microbes that can grow under any extreme climate have been found by the scientist from the University of Colorado Boulder. According to the new discovery, some microbes such as bacteria, fungi and some elementary organisms called archaea of rocky soils in the martian-like soil in South America have an extraordinary capability to grow in extreme climate.
"We haven't formally identified or characterized the species," said Ryan Lynch, scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, "But these are very different than anything else that has been cultured. Genetically, they're at least 5 percent different than anything else in the DNA database of 2.5 million sequences."
These newly found extraordinary microbes live in environment where temperature fluctuates between -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) to 56° C (133° F) in a gap of twelve hours.
While the researchers are still confused about the mystery of their survival, they already conducted a DNA analysis to study their cells that are involved in photosynthesis using fluorescent techniques to look for chlorophyll. But they could not find any evidence that could show that the cells were photosynthetic, rather they believe that these unusual microbes live by slowly converting energy through chemical reactions. They also extract energy and carbon from carbon monoxide and dimethyl sulfide that are found in the Atacama mountain soil.
"There are a lot of areas in the world that haven't been studied from a microbial perspective, and this is one of the main ones," said Steve Schmidt, professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. "We're interested in discovering new forms of life, and describing what those organisms are doing, how they make a living."
"Overall, there was a good bit lower diversity [in the Atacama samples] than you would find in most soils, including other mountainous mineral soils," Lynch said in a statement, adding that the Atacama microbes very unusual. The group of Colorado Boulder scientists will now do laboratory experiments using an incubator that can mimic the extreme temperature.
The article on the new findings is expected to be published by the Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences of the American Geophysical Union.
