Extremophiles as Astrobiological Models

Joseph Seckbach earned his MSc and PhD from the University of Chicago, and was postdoc at Caltech, Pasadena, CA. He is retired from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and spent periods in research in the USA: UCLA, Harvard, Baton-Rouge (LSU); in Germany (Tübingen and Munich as an exchange scholar). He has edited a series of books "Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology" and has edited more than 40 volumes and authored more than 140 research articles. His interest is in astrobiology and iron in plants (phytoferritin).Helga Stan-Lotter is emeritus Professor of Microbiology at the University of Salzburg, Austria. She obtained her PhD degree from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. She was a postdoc at the University of Calgary, Canada, a research associate at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and held a US National Research Council Fellowship at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. Her scientific interests are extremophilic microorganisms and astrobiology.

• Preface xiiiPart I Extremophiles in Environments on Earth with Similarity to Space Conditions 11 Volcanic Steam Vents: Life at Low pH and High Temperature 3Richard L. Weiss Bizzoco and Scott T. Kelley1.1 Introduction 31.2 Steam Cave and Vent Sites 51.3 Steam Cave and Vent Sample Collection 51.4 Culture Isolation 131.5 Cell Structure of Isolates 161.6 Environmental Models 171.7 Conclusions 182 Rio Tinto: An Extreme Acidic Environmental Model of Astrobiological Interest 21Ricardo Amils and David Fernández-Remolar2.1 Introduction 212.2 Acidic Chemolithotrophy 222.3 Rio Tinto Basin 242.4 Biodiversity in the Tinto Basin 252.5 Tinto Basin Sedimentary Geomicrobiology 272.6 The Iberian Pyrite Belt Dark Biosphere 292.7 Methanogenesis in Non-Methanogenic Conditions 342.8 Rio Tinto: A Geochemical and Mineralogical Terrestrial Analog of Mars 352.9 Conclusions 373 Blossoms of Rot: Microbial Life in Saline Organic-Rich Sediments 45Adrian-Stefan Andrei, Paul-Adrian Bulzu and Horia Leonard Banciu3.1 Introduction 463.2 Overview of Saline Aquatic Systems 473.3 Prerequisites of Organic Carbon-Rich Sediment Genesis in Saline Lakes 483.4 Chemistry of Recent Organic Carbon-Rich Sediments in Saline Water Bodies 483.5 Microbial Life in Saline Sapropels 493.6 Relevance of Saline Sapropels 653.7 Concluding Remarks 654 The Haloarchaea of Great Salt Lake as Models for Potential Extant Life on Mars 83Madelyn Bayles, Bradley C. Belasco, Alexander J. Breda, Calli B. Cahill, Adrik Z. Da Silva, Michael J. Regan Jr., Nicklaus K. Schlamp, Mariah P. Slagle and Bonnie K. Baxter4.1 The Great Salt Lake System in the Bonneville Basin 844.2 The Transformation of an Ancient Wet Mars to a Modern Hostile Environment 894.3 Life in Evaporitic Minerals on Earth 954.4 Great Salt Lake Haloarchaea 974.5 Haloarchaea Have Superpowers for Extreme Lifestyles 994.6 Extant or Extinct Haloarchaea on Mars? 1054.7 Conclusions and Insights 1085 Arsenic-and Light Hydrocarbon-Rich Hypersaline Soda Lakes and Their Resident Microbes as Possible Models for Extraterrestrial Biomes 125Ronald S. Oremland5.1 Introduction 1255.2 Mars 1295.3 Enceladus 1315.4 Titan 1326 Antarctic Bacteria as Astrobiological Models 137Carmel Abbott and David A. Pearce6.1 Introduction 1386.2 Antarctica as an Analogous Environment for Astrobiology 1396.3 Astrobiological Environments of Interest 1426.4 Bacterial Adaptations to Extreme Environments as Analogues for Astrobiology 1436.5 Antarctic Bacteria as Analogues for Astrobiology 1456.6 Endemic Antarctic Bacteria used in Astrobiology 1466.7 Cosmopolitan Bacteria Found in Antarctica and used in Astrobiology 1516.8 Conclusion 1527 Extremophilic Life in Our Oceans as Models for Astrobiology 161Robert Y. George7.1 Introduction 1627.2 Southern Ocean Ecosystem: West Antarctic Peninsula Region 1627.3 Sea Ice Decline in WAP and Ice Shelf Collapse in Amundsen Sea 1627.4 Deoxygenation Leading toward Hypoxic Zone in Amundsen Sea 1647.5 Microbial Extremophiles in Southern Ocean 1657.6 Chemosynthetic Abyssal Ecosystems 1667.7 Hydrothermal Activity in Hrad Vallis on Mars 1707.8 Why Chemosynthetic Ecosystems Remind Us of Environmental Conditions When Life Originated in the Universe 1727.9 Ultra-Abyssal Ecosystem: Puerto Rico Trench 1737.10 Affiliations of Abyssal Life to Astrobiology: Some Perspectives 1757.11 Can We Find Protozoans Such as Xenophyophores on Other Planets? 1777.12 Barophilic Organisms in the Deep-Sea 178Part II Extremophiles in Space (International Space Station, Others) and Simulated Space Environments 1838 Challenging the Survival Thresholds of a Desert Cyanobacterium under Laboratory Simulated and Space Conditions 185Daniela Billi8.1 Introduction 1858.2 Endurance of Chroococcidiopsis Under Air-Drying and Space Vacuum 1868.3 Endurance of Chroococcidiopsis Under Laboratory Simulated and Space Radiation 1898.4 The Use of Chroococcidiopsis’s Survival Thresholds for Future Astrobiological Experiments 1919 Lichens as Astrobiological Models: Experiments to Fathom the Limits of Life in Extraterrestrial Environments 197Rosa de la Torre Noetzel and Leopoldo Garcia Sancho9.1 Introduction 1979.2 Survival of Lichens in Outer Space 1999.3 Space Environment: Relevance in Space Science 2009.4 Biological Effects of Space 2019.5 Current and Past Astrobiological Facilities for Experiments with Lichens 2039.6 Space Experiments with Lichens 2069.7 Simulation Studies 2149.8 Summary and Conclusions 2159.9 Future Possibilities and Recommendations 21610 Resistance of the Archaeon Halococcus morrhuae and the Biofilm-Forming Bacterium Halomonas muralis to Exposure to Low Earth Orbit for 534 Days 221Stefan Leuko, Helga Stan-Lotter, Greta Lamers, Sebastian Sjöström, Elke Rabbow, Andre Parpart and Petra Rettberg10.1 Introduction 22210.2 Material and Methods 22310.3 Results 22810.4 Discussion 23211 The Amazing Journey of Cryomyces antarcticus from Antarctica to Space 237Silvano Onofri, Claudia Pacelli, Laura Selbmann and Laura Zucconi11.1 Introduction 23811.2 The McMurdo Dry Valleys 23811.3 Cryptoendolithic Communities 23911.4 The Black Microcolonial Yeast-like Fungus Cryomyces antarcticus 24011.5 The Polyextremotolerance of Cryomyces antarcticus 24011.6 Cryomyces antarcticus and its Resistance to Radiation in Ground-Based Simulated Studies 24211.7 C. antarcticus and its Resistance to Actual Space Exposure in Low Earth Orbit 24511.8 Conclusion 25011.9 Future Perspectives 250Part III Reviews of Extremophiles on Earth and in Space 25512 Tardigrades -- Evolutionary Explorers in Extreme Environments 257K. Ingemar Jönsson12.1 Introduction 25812.2 The Evolutionary Transition Towards Cryptobiotic Adaptations in Tardigrades 25912.3 Cryptobiosis as an Evolutionary Adaptive Strategy 26012.4 Defining Life in Cryptobiotic Animals 26112.5 A Resilience Approach to the Cryptobiotic State 26212.6 Molecular Mechanisms for Structural Stability in the Dry State 26312.7 Tardigrades as Astrobiological Models 26512.8 Tardigrades -- Extremotolerants or Extremophiles? 26713 Spore-Forming Bacteria as Model Organisms for Studies in Astrobiology 275Wayne L. Nicholson13.1 Introduction 27513.2 Historical Beginnings 27613.3 Revival of Lithopanspermia 27813.4 Testing Lithopanspermia Experimentally 27913.5 Lithopanspermia, Spores, and the Origin of Life 28213.6 Interstellar Lithopanspermia 28313.7 Humans as Agents of Panspermia 28413.8 Survival and Growth of Spores in the Mars Environment 28414 Potential Energy Production and Utilization Pathways of the Martian Subsurface: Clues from Extremophilic Microorganisms on Earth 291Varun G. Paul and Melanie R. Mormile14.1 Introduction 29214.2 Energy Sources 29314.3 Conclusion 306Part IV Theory and Hypotheses 31715 Origin of Initial Communities of Thermophilic Extremophiles on Earth by Efficient Response to Oscillations in the Environment 319Vladimir N. Kompanichenko and Vladimir F. Levchenko15.1 Introduction 32015.2 Required Conditions for the Origin of Life: Necessity of Rapid-Frequency Oscillations of Parameters 32015.3 Parameters of the Environment for the Origin of Life 32215.4 Formation of Prebiotic Microsystem Clusters and Their Conversion into Primary Communities of Thermophilic Extremophiles 32315.5 Theoretical and Experimental Verification of the Proposed Approach 32515.6 Conclusion 32616 Extremophiles and Horizontal Gene Transfer: Clues to the Emergence of Life 329Sohan Jheeta16.1 Introduction 32916.2 T-LUCAs, LUCAs and Progenotes 33016.3 Prebiotic World and T-LUCA 33016.4 Emergence of LUCA 33316.5 Chemical Composition of LUCA 33516.6 Emergence of Cellular Life Forms 33616.7 Evidence for Cellular Life Forms 33816.8 The Hypotheses: Genetic First vs. Metabolism First 34116.9 Extremophiles 34216.10 The Viral Connection to the Origin of Life 34416.11 Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT) 34416.12 Mechanisms of HGT 34616.13 Clues to the Origins of Life and a Phylogenetic Tree 34816.14 Conclusion 35117 What Do the DPANN Archaea and the CPR Bacteria Tell Us about the Last Universal Common Ancestors? 359Charles H. Lineweaver17.1 Introduction 35917.2 The Discovery of DPANN and CPR 36117.3 Common Features of CPR and DPANN 36117.4 LUCA and the Deep-Rootedness of CPR and DPANN 36217.5 Short Branches, Deep Branches and Multiple LUCAs 36317.6 Viruses: LUCA without ‘Cellular’ 36418 Can Biogeochemistry Give Reliable Biomarkers in the Solar System? 369Julian Chela-Flores18.1 Evidence of Life in the Solar System 37018.2 Extremophiles on Earth 37018.3 Extremophiles in Low Orbits Around the Earth 37218.4 Have There Been Extremophiles on the Moon? 37218.5 Have There Been Extremophiles on Mars? 37318.6 Europa is a Likely Location for an Extremophilic Ecosystem 37418.7 Are There Other Environments for Extremophiles in the Solar System? 37618.8 Are There Environments for Extremophiles on Exoplanets? 378References 379Index 385