Effect of temperature on the spoilage of stored peas by Rhodotorula glutinis

Collins, Martin A.; Buick, Robert K.

doi:10.1016/s0740-0020(89)80021-8

Cited by 44 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…A variety of bacteria (Firmicutes and Gammaproteobacteria) are capable of cell division at subzero temperatures in solutions with high solute concentrations (Bakermans et al, 2003;Breezee et al, 2004;Mykytczuk et al, 2013). Furthermore, literature not identified in the 2006 report demonstrates cell division of yeast on frozen surfaces at -18°C (Collins and Buick, 1989), extending the low temperature limit (Fig. 6).…”

Section: Organic Compounds On Marsmentioning

confidence: 95%

A New Analysis of Mars “Special Regions”: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)

et al. 2014

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A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms might replicate (per the COSPAR Planetary Protection Policy). This review and update was conducted by an international team (SR-SAG2) drawn from both the biological science and Mars exploration communities, focused on understanding when and where Special Regions could occur. The study applied recently available data about martian environments and about terrestrial organisms, building on a previous analysis of Mars Special Regions (2006) undertaken by a similar team. Since then, a new body of highly relevant information has been generated from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (launched in 2005) and Phoenix (2007) and data from Mars Express and the twin Mars Exploration Rovers (all 2003). Results have also been gleaned from the Mars Science Laboratory (launched in 2011). In addition to Mars data, there is a considerable body of new data regarding the known environmental limits to life on Earth-including the potential for terrestrial microbial life to survive and replicate under martian environmental conditions. The SR-SAG2 analysis has included an examination of new Mars models relevant to natural environmental variation in water activity and temperature; a review and reconsideration of the current parameters used to define Special Regions; and updated maps and descriptions of the martian environments recommended for treatment as "Uncertain" or "Special" as natural features or those potentially formed by the influence of future landed spacecraft. Significant changes in our knowledge of the capabilities of terrestrial organisms and the existence of possibly habitable martian environments have led to a new appreciation of where Mars Special Regions may be identified and protected. The SR-SAG also considered the impact of Special Regions on potential future human missions to Mars, both as locations of potential resources and as places that should not be inadvertently contaminated by human activity.

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Section: Organic Compounds On Marsmentioning

confidence: 95%

A New Analysis of Mars “Special Regions”: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)

et al. 2014

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“…In relation to the atmosphere of Enceladus and/or the watery plumes which it emits into space, it is intriguing to speculate what the water activity of liquid droplets in, or the humidity of, the gaseous phase (presumably close to 100%) might be and whether the temperatures within these plumes can ever be considerably higher than −200°C. It should be noted that, whereas definitive evidence from culture-based studies of microbial systems on Earth indicate limits for cell division of approximately +122°C or −18°C (Collins and Buick, 1989;Takai et al, 2008;Chin et al, 2010;Harrison et al, 2013), circumstantial evidence from other biochemical or geochemical data suggest biotic activity under more extreme conditions (down to about −40°C, and up to approximately +140°C; Kminek et al, 2010;J. D. Rummel 13 For example.…”

Section: Implications For the Evolution Of Microbial Life On Earthmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the established temperature minima for multiplication of the most psychrophilic microbes are in the region of −15°C to −18°C (Collins and Buick, ; Chin et al ., ), there are numerous sources of evidence for metabolic activity considerably below this range (Fig. A; for references, see Kminek et al ., ; J. D. Rummel, D. W. Beaty, M. A. Jones, C. Bakermans, N. G. Barlow, P. Boston, V. Chevrier, B. Clark, J.‐P.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiplication of microbes below 0.690 water activity: implications for terrestrial and extraterrestrial life

Stevenson

Burkhardt

Cockell

et al. 2014

Environmental Microbiology

154

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SummarySince a key requirement of known life forms is available water (water activity; a w), recent searches for signatures of past life in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments have targeted places known to have contained significant quantities of biologically available water. However, early life on Earth inhabited high-salt environments, suggesting an ability to withstand low water-activity. The lower limit of water activity that enables cell division appears to be ∼ 0.605 which, until now, was only known to be exhibited by a single eukaryote, the sugar-tolerant, fungal xerophile Xeromyces bisporus. The first forms of life on Earth were, though, prokaryotic. Recent evidence now indicates that some halophilic Archaea and Bacteria have water-activity limits more or less equal to those of X. bisporus. We discuss water activity in relation to the limits of Earth's present-day biosphere; the possibility of microbial multiplication by utilizing water from thin, aqueous films or non-liquid sources; whether prokaryotes were the first organisms able to multiply close to the 0.605-a w limit; and whether extraterrestrial aqueous milieux of ≥ 0.605 aw can resemble fertile microbial habitats found on Earth.

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“…Whilst photosynthesis has been reported in the Antarctic lichen Umbilicaria aprina at −17°C [6], spoilage of frozen food by the yeast Rhodotolura glutinis at −18°C [7] and metabolism of bacteria from permafrost at −20°C [8], [9], the lower temperature limit for cell growth and division remains unclear [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low Temperature Limit for Life on Earth

et al. 2013

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There is no generally accepted value for the lower temperature limit for life on Earth. We present empirical evidence that free-living microbial cells cooling in the presence of external ice will undergo freeze-induced desiccation and a glass transition (vitrification) at a temperature between −10°C and −26°C. In contrast to intracellular freezing, vitrification does not result in death and cells may survive very low temperatures once vitrified. The high internal viscosity following vitrification means that diffusion of oxygen and metabolites is slowed to such an extent that cellular metabolism ceases. The temperature range for intracellular vitrification makes this a process of fundamental ecological significance for free-living microbes. It is only where extracellular ice is not present that cells can continue to metabolise below these temperatures, and water droplets in clouds provide an important example of such a habitat. In multicellular organisms the cells are isolated from ice in the environment, and the major factor dictating how they respond to low temperature is the physical state of the extracellular fluid. Where this fluid freezes, then the cells will dehydrate and vitrify in a manner analogous to free-living microbes. Where the extracellular fluid undercools then cells can continue to metabolise, albeit slowly, to temperatures below the vitrification temperature of free-living microbes. Evidence suggests that these cells do also eventually vitrify, but at lower temperatures that may be below −50°C. Since cells must return to a fluid state to resume metabolism and complete their life cycle, and ice is almost universally present in environments at sub-zero temperatures, we propose that the vitrification temperature represents a general lower thermal limit to life on Earth, though its precise value differs between unicellular (typically above −20°C) and multicellular organisms (typically below −20°C). Few multicellular organisms can, however, complete their life cycle at temperatures below ∼−2°C.

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Effect of temperature on the spoilage of stored peas by Rhodotorula glutinis

Cited by 44 publications

References 9 publications

A New Analysis of Mars “Special Regions”: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)

A New Analysis of Mars “Special Regions”: Findings of the Second MEPAG Special Regions Science Analysis Group (SR-SAG2)

Multiplication of microbes below 0.690 water activity: implications for terrestrial and extraterrestrial life

A Low Temperature Limit for Life on Earth

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