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    Home > Biochemistry News > Biotechnology News > Tough bacterial communities found in Chile's Atacama Desert have survived without water for 10 years.

    Tough bacterial communities found in Chile's Atacama Desert have survived without water for 10 years.

    • Last Update: 2020-08-11
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    In Chile's atacama desert, the driest and least livable of the planet, German scientists have discovered a "tough" bacterial community that can survive without water for 10 years, Science.com reported.
    because the soil is very similar to Mars, this offers hope for life on the distant red planet.
    results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
    the Atacama Desert extends 1,000 kilometres along Chile's Pacific coast, with rainfall as low as 8 mm per year.
    due to the low precipitation and the very little weathering, over time, the surface formed a layer of hard shell salt, further hindering the prosperity of life there.
    team led by Delco Szydze, a astrobiologist at the Technical University of Berlin in Germany, took soil samples from eight locations in the desert over a three-year period.
    they first collected samples a month after record rainfall in 2015 and then again in the same location in 2016 and 2017.
    they sequenced genes known to distinguish microbial species to determine the proportion of DNA from intact living cells.
    finally, they assessed cell activity levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), fatty acids, and proteins.
    overall, the coastal region has 1,000 times more ATP than in the interior and is most active during the rainy season.
    but in arid areas, most signs of life have largely disappeared, however, one type of bacteria continues to thrive 25 cm underground and appears to be dormant indefinitely.
    the environment in this area is similar to That of Mars and could be used as a reference to the Martian model for further study of the bacteria.
    signs of life in the driest areas, which means that a series of cell activity is taking place after the rains. Julie Nelson, an environmental microbiologist at the University of Arizona at the University of Arizona,
    , said the work was "a good example of where organisms do live."
    the Atacama Desert may be uninhabitable for humans, but for these organisms, "this is their ecosystem".
    Source: Science Daily.
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