Researchers at the Center for the Study of Life in Extreme Conditions, owned by Portland State University, conducted new research and found that very many types of bacteria can survive in extremely difficult conditions, being sharpened in glass. The importance of this study lies in the fact that it can help in the search for life on other planets, and as an example, scientists cite Mars.
For this study, a group of scientists took four types of viruses, which it placed separately from each other in particles of silicon dioxide, that is, a substance used in the production of the same ordinary glass. As part of the experiment, scientists found that when some types of viruses simply could not survive due to extreme isolation, other types of viruses went into a state of hibernation or, if in simple words, hibernated.
Such a defense mechanism allows many microorganisms to survive in extremely difficult conditions for existence. At the same time, bacteria or viruses are in such a state until changes occurring in their environment that will allow these microorganisms to return to life.
In this study, three types of viruses were able to return to life after the glass shell was removed. The result of the experiment gives scientists the hope that living forms can still exist on other planets, the same Mars, for example, or even on asteroids and comets, simply hiding in similar glass or stone "beds."
This research was sponsored by NASA, the US aerospace agency. Her interest in this issue is in the first degree that at the present moment there are two active research laboratories on the Red Planet, both looking for signs of life that could exist on Mars in those days when the planet was more welcoming for the possibility of the existence of living organisms.
“I am convinced that there are viruses in the stones found by the Martian rovers, but we do not have the technology that would allow us to determine their presence. We need to make a serious emphasis on the development of such technologies, before we even think about going to Mars. And now we have actively begun to investigate this issue, ”says Kenneth Stedman from the Center for the Study of Life in Extreme Conditions.
Stedman, being an associate professor of biology at Portland State University, and together with other scientists who participated in this study under the supervision of James Leidler, says that all viruses for this experiment were carefully selected. One of these viruses were microorganisms that live in some geothermal sources of our planet.
“The reason why we chose the desiccation conditions for this study is some unusual research data. In particular, it’s about the fact that viruses, which usually live in some hot (or geothermal) sources and which we chose to be the subject of our research, are capable of moving to other geothermal sources relatively quickly on the scale of geological time, ”Stedman said. Astrobiology Magazine.
Additional details of the new study will be published on December 15 in the Journal of Virology.
The article is based on materials .
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