Metabolic Processes Preserved as Biosignatures in Iron-Oxidizing Microorganisms: Implications for Biosignature Detection on Mars.

ABSTRACT: Iron-oxidizing bacteria occupy a distinct environmental niche. These chemolithoautotrophic organisms require very little oxygen (when neutrophilic) or outcompete oxygen for access to Fe(II) (when acidophilic). The utilization of Fe(II) as an electron donor makes them strong analog organisms for any potential life that could be found on Mars. Despite their importance to the elucidation of early life on, and potentially beyond, Earth, many details of their metabolism remain unknown. By using on-line thermochemolysis and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), a distinct signal for a low-molecular-weight molecule was discovered in multiple iron-oxidizing isolates as well as several iron-dominated environmental samples, from freshwater and marine environments and in both modern and older

SUBMITTER: Floyd MAM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6338579 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature