Electroautotrophy—the use of extracellular electrons as the primary energy source for autotrophic metabolism—remains understudied compared to photoautotrophy and chemoautotrophy.
One underexplored aspect of microbial growth is the impact of toxic gases transported through the atmosphere. Ammonia is a gas that can supply essential nitrogen but also exert cellular toxicity.
Because oxygen-bearing sulfate minerals trap and preserve signals from Earth’s atmosphere, scientists closely study how they form. Sulfates are stable over billions of years, so their oxygen isotopes are seen […]
Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is an indispensable ingredient in making bread, beer, and biotechnology products. But this humble organism also holds clues to something more cosmic – how life could […]
A new study led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; Saudi Arabia) Professor Alexandre Rosado has revealed an unusual microbial world in the Hatiba Mons hydrothermal vent […]
The study [Iron’s irony: speciation, complexation & microbial processing of Fe in hydrothermal plumes, Communications Earth & Environment, Nature (open access)] synthesizes existing research and reinterprets it to explain how […]
The discovery of extraterrestrial reservoirs of liquid water has motivated missions to icy moons Europa and Titan.
We propose a quantitative, testable framework for abiogenesis that links submarine alkaline vents, which supply H2, ΔpH, and Fe/Fe–S catalysis, to subaerial hot-spring fields that provide wet–dry concentration and UV-driven […]
Frozen in time, ancient microbes or their remains could be found in Martian ice deposits during future missions to the Red Planet.
Any life on Mars in the past, present, or future would have to contend with challenging conditions including, among others, shock waves from meteorite impacts and soil perchlorates—highly oxidizing salts […]
