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Studies on ultrasmall bacteria in relation to the presence of bacteria in the stratosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2010

Fawaz Alshammari ,
Milton Wainwright ,
Khalid Alabri  and
Sulamain A. Alharbi
Fawaz Alshammari
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk
Milton Wainwright
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk Department of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia e-mail: sharbi@ksu.edu.sa
Khalid Alabri
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk
Sulamain A. Alharbi
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk Department of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia e-mail: sharbi@ksu.edu.sa
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Abstract

Recent studies confirm that bacteria exist in the stratosphere. It is generally assumed that these bacteria are exiting from Earth, although it is possible that some are incoming from space. Most stratospheric bacterial isolates belong to the spore-forming genus Bacillus, although non-spore formers have also been isolated. Theoretically, the smaller a bacterium is, the more likely it is to be carried from Earth to the stratosphere. Ultrasmall bacteria have been frequently isolated from Earth environments, but not yet from the stratosphere. This is an anomalous situation, since we would expect such small bacteria to be over represented in the stratosphere-microflora. Here, we show that ultrasmall bacteria are present in the environment on Earth (i.e. in seawater and rainwater) and discuss the paradox of why they have not been isolated from the stratosphere.

Keywords

aerobiologyfilterable bacteriapanspermiarainwater bacteriastratospheric microbessymplasmultrasmall bacteria
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 99 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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