Survival of methanogenic archaea from Siberian permafrost under simulated Martian thermal conditions.

Morozova, Daria, Möhlmann, Diedrich and Wagner, Dirk (2007) Survival of methanogenic archaea from Siberian permafrost under simulated Martian thermal conditions. Open Access Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, 37 (2). pp. 189-200. DOI 10.1007/s11084-006-9024-7.

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Abstract

Methanogenic archaea from Siberian permafrost complementary to the already well-studied methanogens from non-permafrost habitats were exposed to simulated Martian conditions. After 22 days of exposure to thermo-physical conditions at Martian low- and mid-latitudes up to 90% of methanogenic archaea from Siberian permafrost survived in pure cultures as well as in environmental samples. In contrast, only 0.3%–5.8% of reference organisms from non-permafrost habitats survived at these conditions. This suggests that methanogens from terrestrial permafrost seem to be remarkably resistant to Martian conditions. Our data also suggest that in scenario of subsurface lithoautotrophic life on Mars, methanogenic archaea from Siberian permafrost could be used as appropriate candidates for the microbial life on Mars.

Document Type: Article
Keywords: Organic Chemistry; Geochemistry; Biochemistry, general; Methanogenic archaea; Permafrost; Astrobiology; Life on Mars; Mars simulation experiments
Research affiliation: HGF-AWI
Refereed: Yes
Publisher: Springer
Projects: Laptev Sea System, Permafrost
Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2015 13:11
Last Modified: 01 Jan 2018 00:38
URI: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/27832

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