Study challenges existence of arsenic-based life, Nature

"A group of scientists, led by microbiologist Rosie Redfield at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, have posted data on Redfield's blog that, she says, present a "clear refutation" of key findings from the paper. But after Redfield and others raised numerous concerns, many of which were published as technical comments in Science, Redfield put the results to the test, documenting her progress on her blog to advance the cause of open science ... Redfield and her collaborators hope to submit their work to Science by the end of the month. She says that if Science refuses to publish the work because it has been discussed on blogs, it will become an important test case for open science."

- Arsenic, Astrobiology, NASA, and the Media, earlier post
- NASA Researchers Start To Backtrack on Earlier Claims, earlier post
- Snarky NASA SMD Response to Snarky Public Astrobiology Discussion, earlier post
- Weird Arsenic-Eating Microbes Discovered? Yes. Finding E.T.? No, earlier post
- Arsenic-Based Life Found on Earth, earlier post
- NASA's Astrobiology News: Arsenic Biochemistry Anyone? (Update), earlier post

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Volcanic-hydrothermal flow channels offer a chemically unique environment, which at first glance appears hostile to life. It is defined by cracks in the crust of the earth, through which water flows, laden with volcanic gases are contacting a diversity of minerals. And yet - it is precisely this extreme environment, where the two mechanisms could have emerged, which are at the root of all life: The multiplication of biomolecules (reproduction) and the emergence of new biomolecules on the basis of previously formed biomolecules (evolution).

At the outset of this concatenation of reactions that led eventually to the formation of cellular forms of life there are only a few amino acids, which are formed from volcanic gases by mineral catalysis. Akin to a domino stone that triggers a whole avalanche, these first biomolecules stimulate not only their own further synthesis but also the production of wholly new biomolecules. "In this manner life begins by necessity in accordance with pre-established laws of chemistry and in a pre-determined direction", declares Guenter Waechtershaeuser, honorary professor for evolutionary biochemistry at the University of Regensburg. He developed the mechanism of a self-generating metabolism - theoretically, alas, an experimental demonstration has been lacking so far.

Continue reading "Mechanism of Evolution of the Primordial Metabolism Discovered" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the chemistry of the living world, a pair of nucleic acids--DNA and RNA--reign supreme. As carrier molecules of the genetic code, they provide all organisms with a mechanism for faithfully reproducing themselves as well as generating the myriad proteins vital to living systems.

Yet according to John Chaput, a researcher at the Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics, at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute(R), it may not always have been so.

Chaput and other researchers studying the first tentative flickering of life on earth have investigated various alternatives to familiar genetic molecules. These chemical candidates are attractive to those seeking to unlock the still-elusive secret of how the first life began, as primitive molecular forms may have more readily emerged during the planet's prebiotic era. One approach to identifying molecules that may have acted as genetic precursors to RNA and DNA is to examine other nucleic acids that differ slightly in their chemical composition, yet still possess critical properties of self-assembly and replication as well as the ability to fold into shapes useful for biological function.

According to Chaput, one interesting contender for the role of early genetic carrier is a molecule known as TNA, whose arrival on the primordial scene may have predated its more familiar kin. A nucleic acid similar in form to both DNA and RNA, TNA differs in the sugar component of its structure, using threose rather than deoxyribose (as in DNA) or ribose (as in RNA) to compose its backbone.

In an article released online today in the journal Nature Chemistry, Chaput and his group describe the Darwinian evolution of functional TNA molecules from a large pool of random sequences. This is the first case where such methods have been applied to molecules other than DNA and RNA, or very close structural analogues thereof. Chaput says "the most important finding to come from this work is that TNA can fold into complex shapes that can bind to a desired target with high affinity and specificity". This feature suggests that in the future it may be possible to evolve TNA enzymes with functions required to sustain early life forms.

Continue reading "Did an Earlier Genetic Molecule Predate DNA and RNA?" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Join us for the third in a series of NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Program (NPP) seminars!

Date/Time: Monday, October 17th, 11am Pacific Time

Title: "Integrating Geochemistry and (Meta)genomics in the Geothermal Springs in Yellowstone National Park: Mapping the Functional Limits of Life in Early Earth Analog Environments"

Speaker: Eric Boyd, Montana State University

Abstract: The genetic record of extant microorganisms documents the interactions between life and the environment throughout Earth history.  This evolutionary link forms the basis of an emerging area of astrobiology research that is directed at quantifying the relationships between the distribution, diversity, and metabolic composition of microbial life and the characteristics of the environment that it inhabits.  The strong physical and chemical gradients and the relatively simple microbial diversity associated with geothermal environments makes them model environments for the development and application of techniques capable of quantifying the extent of such relationships. 

Our recent results have documented non-random patterns in the spatial distribution of individual genes [e.g., ribosomal (16S rDNA), nitrogenase (nifH), hydrogenase (hydA), chlorophyll biosynthesis (bchL)] in the geothermal springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, USA.  These results suggested that the microbial populations that harbor these genes have evolved specific physiological traits that enable them to inhabit a particular ecological niche (i.e., multiplicity of chemical and physical parameters that characterize a microenvironment).  To further examine this phenomenon and to uncover the traits facilitating niche conservatism in these communities, we investigated the composition of ~30 community metagenomes in YNP using a suite of ecological modeling tools. 

The results suggest that the metabolic composition of microbial mat communities can be accurately predicted based on the physicochemistry of the environment.  Of particular significance is the strict temperature-dependent demarcation noted between the metabolic composition of chemotrophic communities (supported by chemical energy) and phototrophic communities (supported by light energy) as well as the pH-dependent demarcation in the metabolic composition of chemotrophic communities.  Additional results from recent modeling and in situ activity-based studies will be presented that reveal the environmental constraints that define the distribution of metabolic processes in these early Earth analog environments.  Collectively, these results provide clues as to the parameters that drove the evolution of metabolic processes on Earth and also serve as a foundation for predicting the habitability of early Earth environments and newly discovered extraterrestrial planetary bodies.

For more information and connection information: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/detail/195

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released NASA Research Announcement (NRA) NNH11ZTT002N, entitled "Research Opportunities in Space Biology." This NASA Research Announcement (NRA) solicits hypothesis-driven research proposals for both ground-based experiments and flight experiments in Space Biology (SB). All proposals must describe hypothesis-driven experiments that will answer basic questions about how cells, plants and animals respond to changes in gravity. Proposals for ground-based experiments must demonstrate and describe a clear path to hypothesis testing in space flight experiments on the ISS or other appropriate space flight platforms. This NRA also requests proposals for rapid turn-around flight research using plants or Petri dish-based biological systems that will utilize either the Advanced Biological Research System (ABRS) hardware residing on the International Space Station (ISS) or the Biological Research in Canisters - Petri Dish Fixation Unit (BRIC-PDFU) hardware on any of several potential flight platforms (based on science requirements and availability).

Continue reading "Release of NASA Research Announcement NNH11ZTT002N "Research Opportunities in Space Biology"" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Description: This NASA Research Announcement (NRA) solicits hypothesis-driven research proposals for both ground-based experiments and flight experiments in Space Biology (SB). This solicitation (NRA NNH11ZTT002N), entitled, "Research Opportunities in Space Biology," will be available on or about September 30, 2011. This solicitation will be found by opening the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/ and then linking through the menu listings "Solicitations" to "Open Solicitations."

Utilizing 21st century biological tools (e.g., genetic, proteomic, metabolomic), SB scientists will examine and discover underlying mechanisms of adaptation to changes resulting from the space flight environment (e.g., altered gravity, stress, radiation), and will determine cellular and organismal mechanisms that regulate and sustain growth, metabolism, reproduction and development. NASA intends to sponsor studies that will result in new basic knowledge that will provide a foundation on which other NASA researchers and engineers can build approaches and countermeasures to the problems confronting human exploration of space, or that translate into new biological tools or applications on Earth.

All proposals must describe hypothesis-driven experiments that will answer basic questions about how cells, plants and animals respond to changes in gravity. This NRA will solicit proposals for ground-based SB research using cells, tissues, or whole animals that will enhance our understanding of the effects of gravity on the mammalian musculoskeletal system. Proposals for these ground-based experiments must demonstrate and describe a clear path to hypothesis-testing in space flight experiments on the ISS or other appropriate space flight platforms. This NRA also requests proposals for rapid turn-around flight research using plants or Petri dish-based biological systems that will utilize either the Advanced Biological Research System (ABRS) hardware residing on the International Space Station (ISS) or the Biological Research in Canisters - Petri Dish Fixation Unit (BRIC-PDFU) hardware on any of several potential flight platforms (based on science requirements and availability). Applications for flight experiments must demonstrate, using ground-based and/or previous flight research results, that there is a high likelihood of successful completion of any proposed flight experiment.

Continue reading "NASA Solicitation: Research Opportunities in Space Biology" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A case study of last year's Workshop without Walls on "Molecular Paleontology and Resurrection: Rewinding the Tape of Life." appears in the July 2011 issue of PLoS Biology. Authors include Betuel Arslan of the Georgia Tech team, Eric Boyd of the Montana State University team, and members of NAI Central.

Abstract:

The NASA Astrobiology Institute conducted two "Workshops Without Walls" during 2010 that enabled global scientific exchange--with no travel required. The second of these was on the topic "Molecular Paleontology and Resurrection: Rewinding the Tape of Life." Scientists from diverse disciplines and locations around the world were joined through an integrated suite of collaborative technologies to exchange information on the latest developments in this area of origin of life research. Through social media outlets and popular science blogs, participation in the workshop was broadened to include educators, science writers, and members of the general public. In total, over 560 people from 31 US states and 30 other nations were registered. Among the scientific disciplines represented were geochemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and evolution, and microbial ecology. We present this workshop as a case study in how interdisciplinary collaborative research may be fostered, with substantial public engagement, without sustaining the deleterious environmental and economic impacts of travel.

For more information: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001118

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Applications are invited for an experienced research scientist to join NASA Ames in
defining the field of Space Synthetic Biology. Applications are being accepted through Friday, May 27, 2011.

Building on decades of cutting edge scientific achievements, NASA Ames Research Center is creating a new, interdisciplinary, research effort to use synthetic biology as an enabling technology to explore our solar system.

As a recognized expert and leader, you will establish a Center for Space Synthetic Biology and play a key role in defining the field. You will direct start-up funds (subject to appropriation) intended to fund your salary, lab equipment, graduate students, and post-doctoral students, and grow research capabilities to build this center into a world-renowned establishment. You will recruit and lead research teams, compete for grants, and collaborate with others within and outside of NASA. You will provide strategic consulting to NASA management in defining the research directions and priorities for applying Synthetic Biology to achieve the goals and objectives of the Agency. Your research strategy and partnerships will leverage investments in research and technology by industry, foundations, universities, and other agencies. You will serve as a key agency interface to the Synthetic Biology community to further NASA's programmatic goals and objectives.

The Center for Space Synthetic Biology at NASA Ames Research center is being created to harness biology in reliable, robust, engineered systems to support NASA's exploration and science missions, to improve life on Earth, and to help shape NASA's future. With the promise of engineered biology on Earth within reach, NASA's Center for Space Synthetic Biology aims to develop advanced concepts for Synthetic Biology applications in space.

Your research will create advances in one or more of the following areas: advanced materials; biological life support and in situ resource utilization; radiation and gravitational biology countermeasures; human health; advanced sensing; food production; fuel production; thermal management; understanding the origins and evolution of life and possible alternative biochemistries, physical limits and evolution of organic life. Useful skills include molecular dynamics simulations of biological systems, multi-scale modeling and coarse-graining techniques, modeling of metabolism and methods of bioinformatics. Willingness to broaden scientific interests to the analysis of genomic and metabolic data from future biologically oriented missions and ground based studies is desired.

At NASA, your research could change the world and enable exploration of new ones.

US Citizenship is required.

Interested applicants should apply directly to USAJobs to vacancy number AR11B0066 at http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?opmcontrol=2240258

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A two-day workshop using NAI remote communications tools will be held on May 12th and 13th, 2011. Real-time participation requires only an internet connection and is available to interested scientists from around the world. More details, including connection and registration information, is available at the meeting website given below.

Synopsis

Over the past 4 billion years, the Earth and its biosphere have undergone a series of linked transitions in redox state, biochemical plasticity, and biological diversity. In order to study this evolution, diverse scientific disciplines (including inorganic and organic geochemistry, microbiology, and genomics) must overcome traditional disciplinary barriers and integrate their tools and perspectives. In recent years, numerous technological advances have resulted in rapid advances in each of these fields. One of the most striking has been the development of cheaper and more efficient sequencing technologies, along with attendant advances in genetics and the computational techniques to leverage the resulting data. To facilitate interactions between paleobiologists and scientists using the latest techniques in molecular biology and genomics, a symposium will be held at the J. Craig Venter Institute in San Diego, California. The primary objective is the exchange of knowledge and the development of a dialog that might yield cutting-edge ideas for future work.

Confirmed Speakers

* Tim Lyons, University of California, Riverside
* Gordon Love, University of California, Riverside
* James Lake, University of California, Los Angeles
* Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
* Lawrence David, Harvard University
* Trinity Hamilton, Montana State University
* Ziming Zhao, Georgia Tech
* Clyde Hutchison, J. Craig Venter Institute
* Kate Freeman, Pennsylvania State University
* Dave Doughty, California Institute of Technology
* Jason Raymond, Arizona State University
* Andrew Allen, J. Craig Venter Institute
* Jack Bailey, University of Minnesota
* Frank Stewart, Georgia Tech

The workshop will consist of talks and discussion. Each presentation will allow ample time for questions and answers afterwards. We encourage researchers to attend in real time to engage in what we expect will be a lively exchange of ideas during the workshop.

Workshop Organizing Committee

* Chris Dupont, J. Craig Venter Institute
* Ariel Anbar, Arizona State University
* John Peters, Montana State University

For more information and participation instructions, visit: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/geobiology2011

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 1-2, 2011

A two-day symposium using NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) remote communications tools, on "The Ribosome: Structure, Function & Evolution," will be held on April 1-2, 2011. Real-time participation requires only an internet connection and is available to interested scientists from around the world. A chat area will be hosted by graduate students and post docs of Georgia Tech's Ribo Evo Center, to facilitate remote interaction during the symposium. More details, including connection and registration information, is available at the meeting website given below.

The 2011 Suddath Symposium on the Ribosome at Georgia Tech brings together researchers who are exploring various aspects of ribosome structure and function. The ribosome is a molecular machine that is responsible for protein synthesis in all living cells. This indispensable component of life, which contains both RNA and proteins, can be viewed as a molecular fossil. That is, the comparison of ribosomal RNA and proteins from distantly related organisms suggests that the origins and evolution of protein synthesis remain imprinted in present day ribosomes, providing a "rewindable" molecular recording of early evolution that appears to go all the way back to the origin of life.

Because the ribosome is central to the biochemistry of all life, it is a major target for drug development. For example, the mode of action of many antibiotics is to inhibit translation or cause bacterial ribosome to make mistakes during protein synthesis. Due to differences between bacterial and eukaryotic ribosomes, the result of billions of years of divergent evolution, drugs can be highly effective against bacterial ribosomes without causing appreciable side effects in human cells. Thus, studies of ribosome structure, function and evolution have scientific implications ranging from understanding the origin and early evolution of life to the development of novel pharmaceuticals.

For more information and participation instructions, visit: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/ribosfe

Posted by Keith Cowing at 6:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NASA astrobiologists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of RNA, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidines exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. The study appears in the September issue of Astrobiology.

"We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory under conditions found in space," said Michel Nuevo, research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center. "We are showing that these laboratory processes, which simulate occurrences in outer space, can make a fundamental building block used by living organisms on Earth."

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Loren Williams, "Where Did Protein Come From?"

Date/Time: Tuesday December 8, 2009 2:30PM Pacific

Speaker: Loren Williams (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Abstract: Ribosomes are RNA-based macromolecular machines responsible for the synthesis of all proteins in all living organisms. Ribosomes are the most ancient of life's macromolecules and are our most direct link to the deep evolutionary past, beyond the base of the phyologenetic tree. The recent availability of high resolution 3D structures of ribosomes provides us with new methods of detection and inference. We will discuss methods for resurrection and biochemical characterization of aboriginal ribosomes.

For more information and participation instructions: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/detail/166

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Appearing in the Nov. 27, 2009, issue (Vol. 284, No. 48) of JBC: A key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's JBC, researchers in Italy have reconstructed one of the earliest evolutionary steps yet: generating long chains of RNA from individual subunits using nothing but warm water.

Many researchers believe that RNA was one of the first biological molecules present, before DNA and proteins; however, there has been little success in recreating the formation on RNA from simple "prebiotic" molecules that likely were present on primordial earth billions of years ago.
Now, Ernesto Di Mauro and colleagues found that ancient molecules called cyclic nucleotides can merge together in water and form polymers over 100 nucleotides long in water ranging from 40-90 *C -similar to water temperatures on ancient Earth.

Continue reading "Just like old times: Generating RNA molecules in water" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Members of NAI's team at Georgia Tech have a new paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution describing an analysis of ribosomal structure and sequence. Their approach chronicles the ribosome's evolution, effectively interpreting the ribosome as a fossil. Using the highest resolution structures available, of two species that represent disparate regions of the evolutionary tree, they have sectioned the large subunit of each ribosome into concentric shells, like an onion, using the site of peptidyl transfer as the origin. Their results suggest that the structure and interactions of both RNA and protein can be described as changing, in an observable manner, over evolutionary time. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jack W. Szostak, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, is among a group of three researchers who have been awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Szostak, who shares this year's prestigious scientific award with Elizabeth H. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, and Carol W. Greider of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is also a principal investigator with NASA's Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The award was presented by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on October 5th, and was given to the group "for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase." According to the Royal Swedish Academy, this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to these three scientists for solving a major problem in biology: how chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. For more information: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/ [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Once it was established that the spaceflight environment was not a drastic impediment to plant growth, a remaining space biology question was whether long-term spaceflight exposure could cause changes in subsequent generations, even if they were returned to a normal Earth environment. In this study, we used a genomic approach to address this question. We tested whether changes in gene expression patterns occur in wheat plants that are several generations removed from growth in space, compared to wheat plants with no spaceflight exposure in their lineage. Wheat flown on Mir for 167 days in 1991 formed viable seeds back on Earth.

Continue reading "Effects of a Spaceflight Environment on Heritable Changes in Wheat Gene Expression" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This study identifies transcriptional regulation of stress response element (STRE) genes in space in the model eukaryotic organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To determine transcription-factor dependence, gene expression changes in space were examined in strains bearing green fluorescent protein–tagged (GFP-tagged) reporters for YIL052C (Sfp1 dependent with stress), YST-2 (Sfp1/Rap1 dependent with stress), or SSA4 (Msn4 dependent with stress), along with strains of SSA4-GFP and YIL052C-GFP with individual deletions of the Msn4 or Sfp1.

Continue reading "Novel Sfp1 Transcriptional Regulation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Gene Expression Changes During Spaceflight" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Immediate openings for enthusiastic Post-doctoral Fellows in the Department of Biochemistry at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The aim of our laboratory is to understand the molecular interactions that the ribosome makes with different regulatory factors at various stages of the translation cycle (Cell (2005) 123(7) 1255-66; Science (2006) 313(5795) 1935-42; RNA (2007) 13(6) 817-23; Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (2007) 14(8) 733-7). Our group primarily uses the structural biology technique of X-ray crystallography in addition to complementary biochemical and biophysical techniques to address function in vitro.

Continue reading "NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program: Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Translation Regulation" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With this amendment, the NASA Announcement of Opportunity NNH08ZDA009O, "Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity Notice (SALMON)," is amended to delay the proposal due date for proposals submitted in response to Program Element Appendix H3: Small Complete Missions of Opportunity in Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology.

The proposal due date for Small Complete Missions of Opportunity in Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology proposals is delayed until early in 2009.

Continue reading "SALMON AO Amendment 2: Delay of Due Date for Small Complete Missions in Astrobiology and Fundamental Space Biology" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from NAI's University of Arizona team and their colleagues at the University of Leeds have a new paper in Angewandte Chemie International Edition dealing with prebiotic chemistry and the early Earth. Working both experimentally and with models of the early atmosphere, the team shows that the Hadean and early Archaean Earth was primed with an abundance of condensed phosphates, enabling the formation of the necessary precursors of RNA and DNA. This research removes one of the large stumbling blocks in prebiotic chemistry- that the early Earth lacked a low-temperature reservoir of activated phosphate compounds capable of eventually leading to the origin of life.

Source: NAI Newsletter

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from NAI's University of Hawai'i team have a paper in the September 17 edition of Nature about the evolution of the animal gut. For more than 100 years zoologists have speculated about scenarios of how the bilaterally symmetrical animals (animals that have a left and a right side, like flies, fish, and humans) evolved from a simple circular (radially symmetric) ancestor that looked similar to jelly fish or corals. In the commonly presented scenarios this transition is connected to the evolution of a through-gut with an anterior mouth and posterior anus. It has been thought that both openings emerged simultaneously from a single embryological opening through which the inner tissues enter (called blastopore).

Continue reading "Evolution of the Gut" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Due to the hardship caused by Hurricane Ike to institutions on the Gulf Coast, NASA is again extending the deadline for the NASA Research Announcement NNH08ZTT003N NRA: Research Opportunities for Fundamental Space Biology Investigations in Microbial, Plant and Cell Biology from September 19, 2008 to September 24, 2008.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from NAI's Penn State, MBL, and UCLA Teams have completed a study of the subseafloor marine biosphere, which may be one of the largest reservoirs of microbial biomass on Earth, and which has recently been the subject of debate in terms of the composition of its microbial inhabitants. Their metagenomic analysis indicates that the subsurface environment is the most unique studied to date, distinct in its microbial make-up from the surface waters.

Continue reading "Marine Subsurface is a Distinct Microbial Habitat" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAI's University of Wisconsin team presents a review of iron isotope fingerprints created through biogeochemical cycling in the May, 2008 issue of The Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. This landmark paper brings together for the first time the co-evolution records of photosynthesis, bacterial sulfate reduction, and bacterial iron reduction in the early Earth. They review data on natural systems and experiments, looking at both abiological and biological processes, and conclude that the temporal carbon, sulfur, and iron isotope record reflects the interplay of changing microbial metabolisms over Earth's history. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new study from NAI's Montana State University Team appears in the current issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The study probes the hydrogenase enzyme, a large, complex enzyme which plays a major role in anaerobic metabolism by creating molecular hydrogen. The research team produced a crystal structure of the enzyme to unprecedented resolution, revealing a new level of detail in the enzyme's active site, and providing clues about it's evolution. These results further our understanding of the transition from the abiotic (non-living) world to the biological world which may have been an early event in the development of life on Earth, and possibly a common feature of life elsewhere in the universe. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters has released NASA Research Announcement (NRA) NNH08ZTT003N entitled "Research Opportunities for Fundamental Space Biology Investigations in Microbial, Plant and Cell Biology". The full text of the solicitation is available on the NASA Research Opportunities homepage at http://nspires.nasaprs.com under menu listing "Open Solicitations".

Continue reading "NASA Research Announcement (NRA) NNH08ZTT003N "Research Opportunities for Fundamental Space Biology Investigations in Microbial, Plant and Cell Biology"" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Colleague, The National Science Foundation's Assembling the Tree of Life (AToL) solicitation has recently been renewed and updated (see the program solicitation, NSF 08-515; http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08515). As in the past, the AToL competition will support creative and innovative research to resolve evolutionary relationships for large groups of organisms. The program also supports research on theory and methods and tool development for these large scale phylogenetic investigations. With this letter we wish to draw your attention to several new and/or enhanced areas of interest. Proposals in the following areas are especially encouraged:

Continue reading "NSF Dear Colleague Letter - Assembling the Tree of Life Solicitation" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 819-823

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0207

A key challenge in Astrobiology is to comprehend life and its interaction with the environment at a level sufficiently fundamental to embrace the alternative biochemistries that may be encountered in a search for life elsewhere (Baross et al., 2007).

Continue reading "A "Follow the Energy" Approach for Astrobiology" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 1006-1022

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0156

Europa is a prime target for astrobiology. The presence of a global subsurface liquid water ocean and a composition likely to contain a suite of biogenic elements make it a compelling world in the search for a second origin of life. Critical to these factors, however, may be the availability of energy for biological processes on Europa.

Continue reading "Energy, Chemical Disequilibrium, and Geological Constraints on Europa" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 971-986

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2006.0096

Dissolved H2 concentrations up to the mM range and H2 levels up to 9-58% by volume in the free gas phase are reported for groundwaters at sites in the Precambrian shields of Canada and Finland. Along with previously reported dissolved H2 concentrations up to 7.4 mM for groundwaters from the Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa, these findings indicate that deep Precambrian Shield fracture waters contain some of the highest levels of dissolved H2 ever reported and represent a potentially important energy-rich environment for subsurface microbial life. The

Continue reading "Hydrogeologic Controls on Episodic H2 Release from Precambrian Fractured Rocks--Energy for Deep Subsurface Life on Earth and Mars" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 951-970

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0150

Radiolysis of water may provide a continuous flux of an electron donor (molecular hydrogen) to subsurface microbial communities. We assessed the significance of this process in anoxic marine sediments by comparing calculated radiolytic H2 production rates to estimates of net (organic-fueled) respiration at several Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 201 sites. Radiolytic H2 yield calculations are based on abundances of radioactive elements (uranium, thorium, and potassium), porosity, grain density, and a model of water radiolysis. Net respiration estimates are based on fluxes of dissolved electron acceptors and their products. Comparison of radiolytic H2 yields and respiration at multiple sites suggests that radiolysis gains importance as an electron donor source as net respiration and organic carbon content decrease.

Continue reading "Radiolytic Hydrogen and Microbial Respiration in Subsurface Sediments" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 933-950

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2006.0119

Numerical models are employed to investigate sources of chemical energy for autotrophic microbial metabolism that develop during mixing of oxidized seawater with strongly reduced fluids discharged from ultramafic-hosted hydrothermal systems on the seafloor. Hydrothermal fluids in these systems are highly enriched in H2 and CH4 as a result of alteration of ultramafic rocks (serpentinization) in the subsurface. Based on the availability of chemical energy sources, inferences are made about the likely metabolic diversity, relative abundance, and spatial distribution of microorganisms within ultramafic-hosted systems.

Continue reading "Geochemical Constraints on Sources of Metabolic Energy for Chemolithoautotrophy in Ultramafic-Hosted Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Systems" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 891-904

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2006.0118

The common thread of energy release suggests that diverse microbial metabolic processes can be compared through thermodynamic analyses. The resulting energy and power requirements can provide quantitative constraints on habitability. Because previous thermodynamic analyses have focused on the minimum amount of energy needed for the growth of a microorganism or community, the focus of this study is to gain a fuller understanding of the microbial response to highly habitable conditions.

Continue reading "A Thermodynamic Analysis of Microbial Growth Experiments" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 873-890

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0127

Formate, a simple organic acid known to support chemotrophic hyperthermophiles, is found in hot springs of varying temperature and pH. However, it is not yet known how metabolic strategies that use formate could contribute to primary productivity in hydrothermal ecosystems. In an effort to provide a quantitative framework for assessing the role of formate metabolism, concentration data for dissolved formate and many other solutes in samples from Yellowstone hot springs were used, together with data for coexisting gas compositions, to evaluate the overall Gibbs energy for many reactions involving formate oxidation or reduction.

Continue reading "Formate as an Energy Source for Microbial Metabolism in Chemosynthetic Zones of Hydrothermal Ecosystems" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new paper in Nature from NAI's NASA Ames Research Center Team describes a new technique they've developed through which completely new enzymes can be evolved in the laboratory. The process does not require prior understanding of how the enzymes will work, or the use of product formation as a selection criterion.

Source: NAI Newsletter

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NAI Minority Institution Research Support Program is pleased to announce the selection of LeeAnne Martinez, an Associate Professor of Biology at Colorado State University - Pueblo, a Hispanic Serving Institution. Dr. Martinez plans to begin a genomic analysis of open water diatoms in the laboratory of Jim Lake, of the NAI UCLA team, to explore horizontal transfer of operational genes that may lead to the incorporation of endosymbionts by diatoms. LeeAnne's background includes nitrogen-fixation in diatom mats and this work will support current research at Colorado State-Pueblo. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is an instrument developed by the NAI Carnegie Institution of Washington Team over the past 4 years in collaboration with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Charles River Labs. LOCAD-PTS was flown to and recently tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to enable crew to monitor microorganisms and potentially hazardous chemicals within the cabin environment. The successful test is the first demonstration of this new technology, from sampling to data retrieval - by an astronaut in space. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/06apr_locad2.htm?list123050 [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mission Status Report: NASA's Orbiting GeneSat-1 Radios Date to Team on Earth

"The GeneSat-1 ground control station at NASA Ames will receive data radioed from the micro-laboratory after it has completed its observations and tests of the bacteria inside. The biological test will last only 96 hours, but the GeneSat-1 team will evaluate the stability of the orbiting payload's systems for four months to a year. The Small Spacecraft Office at NASA's Ames teamed up with industry and local universities to develop the fully automated, miniature GeneSat spaceflight system that provides life support for small living things."

GeneSat Mission Dashboard, Santa Clara University

GeneSat1, Real Time Satellite Tracking, NORAD ID: 29655 Int'l Code: 2006-058C

Where is GenSat1?

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NASA's GeneSat-1 Reaches Orbit on Air Force Rocket, NASA

"NASA's GeneSat-1 rode an Air Force rocket into Earth orbit on Dec. 16, 2006 at 4 a.m. PST (7 a.m. EST) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va. The satellite's locator beacon has been detected, and data has been received as GeneSat-1 orbits Earth, according to scientists."

View Launch Video

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bigelow Spacecraft Carries NASA 'GeneBox' for Tests in Orbit, NASA ARC

"On July 12, a Russian rocket lofted 'GeneBox' into Earth orbit within Bigelow Corporation's Genesis I test spacecraft. Attached to the large inflatable spacecraft's internal structure, GeneBox contains a miniature laboratory. In future flights, it will analyze how the near weightlessness of space affects genes in microscopic cells and other small life forms."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)