Immortal Cells May Prove Potential for Life on Mars and Europa
“More than 150 lakes have been discovered underneath nearly two-and-a-half miles of ice in Antactica,” said Christner, “and most of these bodies of water have likely been covered by ice for at least 15 million years. The environmental conditions in the deep cold biosphere are unlike anything on the Earth’s surface and this represents one of the most extreme habitats for life on the planet.”
Prior to 10 years ago, there was no doubt Antarctic ice was totally uninhabited, with two mile thick slabs and too extreme of winter conditions. Home of the largest body of ice on Earth, this area has now become a buzzing hot spot to scientists all over the world. One of these men, Brent Christner, assistant professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University, has spent quite a bit of time working beneath the Antarctic ice sheet with results that have recently changed the way biologists see life in the Antarctica. His discoveries involve viable microbes in the ancient ice cores and subglacial environments, along with the fact large quantities of water actually are under the thick sheets of ice.
The fascinating thing about these microbes is that a one million-year timeframe is very much required for them to be transported through the ice sheet, entering the Antarctic subglacial lake. Questions still be asked by scientists are how these preserved cells which are encased in ice have their DNA remain undamaged over such long periods of time, while metabolic inactivity occurs.
In the SpaceRef article titled, “LSU professor looks for life in and under Antarctic ice,” Christner feels that in order for the microbes to survive for a millenia in such a frozen state, they must be dormant in ice and have a “very effective repair mechanisms that are initiated when the cells are introduced to a growth situation.” He feels that given adequate time, the dormant cells without the active DNA repair mechanisms would eventually incur a lethal level of radiation-induced damage from natural background sources in the ice.
The article goes on and says that there is a possibility that the microbes could possibly stay metabolically active while they are entrapped in the ice, which gives them the ability to repair any damage that will occur to them. This would mean that the microbes are considered “immortal” when frozen with a continuous energy supply was available.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Space Agency News, Technical Concerns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
