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Terrestrial Permafrost as a Model Environment for Bioastronomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

A. Tsapin  and
G. D. McDonald
A. Tsapin
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr. Pasadena, CA 91109, U.S.A.; tsapin@jpl.nasa.gov
G. D. McDonald
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Dr. Pasadena, CA 91109, U.S.A.

Abstract

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The extent to which organisms can survive extended periods of metabolic inactivity in cold environments such as permafrost is one of the key questions in the study of life in extreme environments and for astrobiology. Viable bacteria have been cultured from million year-old Siberian permafrost samples, but the relationship between the age of the bacteria and the age of the sediments remains controversial. In this study we analyze the level of racemization of amino acids in permafrost samples collected from several sites in Northern Siberia. We have shown that even during long exposures to low temperatures (−10°C to −15°C), the bacterial cells in permafrost are not completely dormant, but continue to metabolize and at least partially control the extent of amino acid racemization.

Type
Archaea
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 359 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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