Mars Extant Life: What's Next? Conference Report

Beaty, D. W.; Meÿer, Michael A.; Blank, Jennifer; Chou, Loretta B.; DasSarma, Shiladitya; Marais, D. J. Des; Eigenbrode, J. L.; Grefenstette, Natalie; Lanza, N.; Schuerger, Andrew C.; Schwendner, Petra; Smith, H. D.; Stoker, C.; Tarnas, J. D.; Webster, Kevin D.; Bakermans, Corien; Baxter, Bonnie K.; Bell, M. S.; Benner, Steven A.; Torres, Hermes Hernán Bolívar; Boston, Penelope J.; Bruner, R. B.; Clark, B. C.; DasSarma, Priya; Engelhart, Aaron E.; Gallegos, Z. E.; Garvin, Z. K.; Gasda, P. J.; Green, J. H.; Harris, Rachel L.; Hoffman, M. E.; Kieft, Thomas L.; Koeppel, A. H. D.; Lee, P. A.; Li, X.; Lynch, Kennda; Mackelprang, Rachel; Mahaffy, P. R.; Matthies, Larry; Nellessen, M. A.; Newsom, H. E.; Northup, Diana E.; O'Connor, Brady; Perl, S. M.; Quinn, R. C.; Rowe, Laura; Sauterey, Boris; Schneegurt, Mark; Schulze‐Makuch, Dirk; Scuderi, L. A.; Spilde, M.; Stamenković, V.; Celis, Jorge Andres Torres; Viola, D.; Wade, Brian D.; Walker, Clinton; Wiens, R. C.; Williams, Amy J.; Williams, Joshua; Xu, J.

doi:10.1089/ast.2020.2237

Cited by 66 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 154 publications

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“…Hypersaline habitats have been known as a sanctuary to preserve biological material on time periods exceeding that of non-saline systems. Thus, the presence of paleo-sulfate lakes on Mars is of particular significance for astrobiology, as these might have preserved signs of previous microbial inhabitation on Mars (Carrier et al, 2020). Further biological characterization of the Karak mines is essential to define the limits to microbial growth in these hypersaline environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metagenomic Insights Into the Diversity of Halophilic Microorganisms Indigenous to the Karak Salt Mine, Pakistan

et al. 2020

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Hypersaline regions are terrestrial analogs of the Earth's primitive ecosystem and extraterrestrial environment. The salt range in Pakistan is considered among a few of the ancient salt deposits in the subcontinent. Karak salt mine is situated at the Northwest end in Pakistan. Despite the fact that halophiles initiated the formation of terrestrial ecosystems, their products and identities remain hidden. Some preliminary studies limited to culture-dependent isolations have been reported. Characterizing the microbiome that spans over centuries of ecosystem development is crucial, given their role in shaping landscape succession and biogeochemical cycles. Here, we used metagenomics techniques to explore the microbial diversity of the Karak salt mine. We used 16S rRNA Illumina amplicon sequencing to characterize the halophilic communities entrapped in Karak mine. The results were interpreted using Illumina Basespace, QIIME, and Cytoscape. Cultures were isolated at 16-25% salinity. Metagenomics data was consistent with our preliminary culturing data, indicating remarkable species to strainlevel diversity of unique halophiles. A total of 107,099 (brine) and 122,679 (salt) reads were obtained. 16S rRNA based sequencing revealed a microbiome with bacteria (66% brine and 72% salt) dominated by Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria with a strikingly high abundance of Archaea (18% brine and 13% salt). Alpha diversity has higher values in salt than in the brine. The study of the halophiles in the Karak salt mine provides clues for species contributing to the maintenance of biogeochemical cycles of the ecosystem. This is the first report of a metagenomic study of any hypersaline region of Pakistan.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metagenomic Insights Into the Diversity of Halophilic Microorganisms Indigenous to the Karak Salt Mine, Pakistan

et al. 2020

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“…A ncient subsurface salt deposits are of interest from the perspective of extremophiles, evolutionary biology, and astrobiology (1,2). Studies on their microbial diversity are needed for expanding our understanding of adaptation to hypersaline environments, including high-salinity/low-water conditions and UV/ionizing radiation tolerance, and potential habitability on Mars (3)(4)(5). To date, relatively few studies have been conducted that address microbial diversity in salt evaporites (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12).…”

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confidence: 99%

16S rRNA Gene Diversity in Ancient Gray and Pink Salt from San Simón Salt Mines in Tarija, Bolivia

Pecher

Martínez

DasSarma

et al. 2020

Microbiol Resour Announc

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“…Quick and accurate planetary exploration requires tools which are able to survive extremes in environmental conditions, working both on the surface and sub-surface. Sub-surface exploration is critical for example on Mars or the Moon, since signs of extant or extinct life is likely to be found in sub-surface caves [ 8 ]. With the recent drive towards space and planetary exploration, this work presents promising, innovative tools for mapping and exploration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hand-Held Sensor System for Exploration and Thermal Mapping of Volcanic Fumarole Fields

Irmisch

Ernst

Baumbach

et al. 2021

Communications in Computer and Information Science

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Research from the field of planetary- and geoscience require investigation of geological features in harsh environments. Sampled data needs to be precisely localized spatially and in time, and to be prepared appropriately for further inspection and evaluation. In the case of thermal image data, the computer vision community has made enormous progress in the past years to combine thermal with spatial information in form of thermal 3D models. In this paper, we propose to use a camera-based hand-held sensor system to capture and georeference thermal images in rugged terrain and to prepare the data for further investigations by visualizing the thermal data in 3D. We use a global localization solution to gain fast 3D impressions of the environment and further Structure from Motion to generate detailed mid-scale models of selected interesting structures. We demonstrate our application based on a challenging dataset that we acquired in the active fumarole fields of Vulcano, Sicily.

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Mars Extant Life: What's Next? Conference Report

Cited by 66 publications

References 154 publications

Metagenomic Insights Into the Diversity of Halophilic Microorganisms Indigenous to the Karak Salt Mine, Pakistan

Metagenomic Insights Into the Diversity of Halophilic Microorganisms Indigenous to the Karak Salt Mine, Pakistan

16S rRNA Gene Diversity in Ancient Gray and Pink Salt from San Simón Salt Mines in Tarija, Bolivia

A Hand-Held Sensor System for Exploration and Thermal Mapping of Volcanic Fumarole Fields

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