Is that sterile? You sure??

[Luceiia]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/952534.asp?0bl=-0

But the newly discovered microbe survived even higher temperatures and did not use either oxygen or sulfur in respiration. Instead it uses iron to burn its food for energy — the role played by oxygen on most other species on Earth.

...

They nicknamed it Strain 121.
“Growth at 121 degrees C is remarkable because sterilization at 121 degrees C, typically in pressurized autoclaves to maintain water in a liquid state, is a standard procedure shown to kill all previously described microorganisms and heat-resistant spores,” they wrote in a report published in the journal Science.
“Autoclaving did not kill strain 121, and it doubled in cell numbers after 24 hours at 121 degrees Celsius.”


Fascinating, and about time. I've always felt the notion of extra terrestrials being similar to us was a long shot and that failing to anticipate other forms of molecular structure/function (including respiration) was shortsighted.


Luceiia

[Yahweh]

Originally posted by Luceiia
Fascinating, and about time. I've always felt the notion of extra terrestrials being similar to us was a long shot and that failing to anticipate other forms of molecular structure/function (including respiration) was shortsighted.
I dont know if I should base my "xenobiology" off what I've seen from earth, but for the most part I'd assume extra terrestrials would have bilateral symmetry, eyes, and a central nervous system. Bilateral symmetry is most evolutionarily rational and beneficial design for any successful large and intelligent animal. The movie "Alien" freaked me out, therefore all aliens have eyes so as not to freak people out. Like all known large animals, aliens most likely will have cephalization (a head region which houses neural organs). I'd assume the ETs we find on other planets and moons would most likely have comparable characteristics to the animals found on Earth.

Wow, theres a microbe for just about everything...

[Soapy Sam]

"Fascinating, and about time. I've always felt the notion of extra terrestrials being similar to us was a long shot and that failing to anticipate other forms of molecular structure/function (including respiration) was shortsighted."

Luceiia
__________________________________________________ __
I wonder who, in what lab where, is busily splicing genes for heat shock proteins into what filovirus?

[Ziggurat]

Originally posted by Soapy Sam

I wonder who, in what lab where, is busily splicing genes for heat shock proteins into what filovirus?

That probably wouldn't work. First off, of course, is the problem that we're dealing with a bacteria, not a virus, and just transfering a protein from one to another isnt' necessarily going to work. Even if you get the protein to work with the virus, you could have all sorts of other problems - at low temperatures, the protein might bind TOO tightly to the viral DNA to allow it to do much inside a human body. It might also be easy for the immune system to detect and destroy the high-temperature proteins. In other words, it's not a simple matter of transfering heat-resistant bacterial proteins to a virus to make the virus heat-resistant and retain other properties of interest, such as infectiousness. Also, is the bacteria in question bleach-resistant?

[calladus]

Originally posted by Luceiia
http://www.msnbc.com/news/952534.asp?0bl=-0



Fascinating, and about time. I've always felt the notion of extra terrestrials being similar to us was a long shot and that failing to anticipate other forms of molecular structure/function (including respiration) was shortsighted.


Luceiia
What? You don't believe that all aliens are going to look like humans in rubber suits or with foam latex devices glued to their foreheads? AHHH!!

I'll bet you don't even believe that star ships make 'whooshing' noises as they zoom through space too! :eek:

[Jon_in_london]

Thiobacillus Feridoxans.

Amazing bug. This one research group (Under Doug Rawlings) set up a culture of the stuff that would get its energy supply by reducing suplur and oxidizing iron. They kept the culture growing indefinately by supplying an electric current to the tank to reduce the iron and oxidize the sulphur (or vice versa, cant remember), so the whole culture was able to live on electricity.

Growth @ 120+ celcius isnt that news either btw. Thermus Aquaticus has been known for years and its DNA polymerase (Taq) is used in vitrually every biology lab in the world to drive PCR.

The thing is, critters wot grow well at 120 C are unlikely to do very well at 37 C so dont worry about them too much.

[Soapy Sam]

Ziggurat-

I grant all you say, but I'm cynical enough to bet someone will give it a try.

There may be positive applications, which would encourage "legitimate" researchers- like creating high temp yeast to make warm beer for the UK market.