Low Pressure Tolerance by Methanogens in an Aqueous Environment: Implications for Subsurface Life on Mars

Mickol, R. L.; Kral, T. A.

doi:10.1007/s11084-016-9519-9

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 79 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…They are widespread in nature but restricted to anaerobic habitats, for example wetlands, landfill sites, and digestive tracts of animals. They are often found in extreme environments and might even be capable of growing on Mars (Conrad, ; Thauer et al ., ; Wagner and Liebner, ; Mickol and Kral, ). Methanogens are recognized as the largest biogenic source of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas, and consequently as an important factor in the global carbon cycle (Houweling et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PhyMet²: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

Burdukiewicz

Gagat

Jabłoński

et al. 2018

Environ Microbiol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The vast biodiversity of the microbial world and how little is known about it, has already been revealed by extensive metagenomics analyses. Our rudimentary knowledge of microbes stems from difficulties concerning their isolation and culture in laboratory conditions, which is necessary for describing their phenotype, among other things, for biotechnological purposes. An important component of the understudied ecosystems is methanogens, archaea producing a potent greenhouse-effect gas methane. Therefore, we created PhyMet , the first database that combines descriptions of methanogens and their culturing conditions with genetic information. The database contains a set of utilities that facilitate interactive data browsing, data comparison, phylogeny exploration and searching for sequence homologues. The most unique feature of the database is the web server MethanoGram, which can be used to significantly reduce the time and cost of searching for the optimal culturing conditions of methanogens by predicting them based on 16S RNA sequences. The database will aid many researchers in exploring the world of methanogens and their applications in biotechnological processes. PhyMet with the MethanoGram predictor is available at http://metanogen.biotech.uni.wroc.pl.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PhyMet²: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

Burdukiewicz

Gagat

Jabłoński

et al. 2018

Environ Microbiol Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The survival of organisms during desiccation at 6 mbar of pressure was much lower; M. barkeri, M. wolfeii, and M. formicicum only survived for 120 days, while M. maripaludis did not survive at all in the 1 bar pressure desiccation experiment but surprisingly survived for 60 days at 6 mbar pressure [133]. However, each of the four species were able to survive 6 mbar of pressure while in an aqueous environment [134]. In the other experiments, the same strains were exposed to combined conditions of low pressure (6 mbar) and desiccation for 90 or 120 days while exposed to various Martian regolith analogs [135].…”

Section: Archaeamentioning

confidence: 96%

Habitability of Mars: How Welcoming Are the Surface and Subsurface to Life on the Red Planet?

Sielaff

Smith

2019

Geosciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mars is a planet of great interest in the search for signatures of past or present life beyond Earth. The years of research, and more advanced instrumentation, have yielded a lot of evidence which may be considered by the scientific community as proof of past or present habitability of Mars. Recent discoveries including seasonal methane releases and a subglacial lake are exciting, yet challenging findings. Concurrently, laboratory and environmental studies on the limits of microbial life in extreme environments on Earth broaden our knowledge of the possibility of Mars habitability. In this review, we aim to: (1) Discuss the characteristics of the Martian surface and subsurface that may be conducive to habitability either in the past or at present; (2) discuss laboratory-based studies on Earth that provide us with discoveries on the limits of life; and (3) summarize the current state of knowledge in terms of direction for future research.

show abstract

“…; Onofri et al. ; Mickol and Kral ). However, the subset of organisms capable of metabolic activity or replication is much smaller.…”

Section: Objective 2: Assess and Interpret The Potential Biological Hmentioning

confidence: 98%

The potential science and engineering value of samples delivered to Earth by Mars sample return

Beaty¹,

Grady²,

McSween³

et al. 2019

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Executive Summary Return of samples from the surface of Mars has been a goal of the international Mars science community for many years. Affirmation by NASA and ESA of the importance of Mars exploration led the agencies to establish the international MSR Objectives and Samples Team (iMOST). The purpose of the team is to re‐evaluate and update the sample‐related science and engineering objectives of a Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. The iMOST team has also undertaken to define the measurements and the types of samples that can best address the objectives. Seven objectives have been defined for MSR, traceable through two decades of previously published international priorities. The first two objectives are further divided into sub‐objectives. Within the main part of the report, the importance to science and/or engineering of each objective is described, critical measurements that would address the objectives are specified, and the kinds of samples that would be most likely to carry key information are identified. These seven objectives provide a framework for demonstrating how the first set of returned Martian samples would impact future Martian science and exploration. They also have implications for how analogous investigations might be conducted for samples returned by future missions from other solar system bodies, especially those that may harbor biologically relevant or sensitive material, such as Ocean Worlds (Europa, Enceladus, Titan) and others. Summary of Objectives and Sub‐Objectives for MSR Identified by iMOST This objective is divided into five sub‐objectives that would apply at different landing sites. 1.1 Characterize the essential stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and facies variations of a sequence of Martian sedimentary rocks. 1.2 Understand an ancient Martian hydrothermal system through study of its mineralization products and morphological expression. 1.3 Understand the rocks and minerals representative of a deep subsurface groundwater environment. 1.4 Understand water/rock/atmosphere interactions at the Martian surface and how they have changed with time. 1.5 Determine the petrogenesis of Martian igneous rocks in time and space. This objective has three sub‐objectives: 2.1 Assess and characterize carbon, including possible organic and pre‐biotic chemistry. 2.2 Assay for the presence of biosignatures of past life at sites that hosted habitable environments and could have preserved any biosignatures. 2.3 Assess the possibility that any life forms detected are alive, or were recently alive. Summary of iMOST Findings Several specific findings were identified during the iMOST study. While they are not explicit recommendations, we suggest that they should serve as guidelines for future decision making regarding planning of potential future MSR missions. The samples to be collected by the Mars 2020 (M‐2020) rover will be of sufficient size and quality to address and solve a wide variety of scientific questions. Samples, by definition, are a statistical representation of a larger entity...

show abstract

Low Pressure Tolerance by Methanogens in an Aqueous Environment: Implications for Subsurface Life on Mars

Cited by 17 publications

References 79 publications

PhyMet²: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

PhyMet²: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

Habitability of Mars: How Welcoming Are the Surface and Subsurface to Life on the Red Planet?

The potential science and engineering value of samples delivered to Earth by Mars sample return

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Low Pressure Tolerance by Methanogens in an Aqueous Environment: Implications for Subsurface Life on Mars

Cited by 17 publications

References 79 publications

PhyMet2: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

PhyMet2: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

Habitability of Mars: How Welcoming Are the Surface and Subsurface to Life on the Red Planet?

The potential science and engineering value of samples delivered to Earth by Mars sample return

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

PhyMet²: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens

PhyMet²: a database and toolkit for phylogenetic and metabolic analyses of methanogens