The detection of viable life is a key objective for both in situ astrobiological experiments on extraterrestrial bodies, and for planetary protection protocols on Earth following sample return.
A draft genome sequence was assembled and annotated for an uncultured archaeon reconstructed from shotgun metagenomes obtained from Antarctic endoliths.
We propose a hypothesis for the simultaneous emergence of bacteria, archaea, viruses, and mobile elements by sequential and concrete biochemical pathways.
Aerobic ammonia oxidation is crucial to the nitrogen cycle and is only known to be performed by a small number of bacterial lineages [ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB)] and a single lineage […]
[biorxiv.org] Defining the minimal genetic requirements for cellular life remains a fundamental question in biology. Genomic exploration continually reveals novel microbial lineages, often exhibiting extreme genome reduction, particularly within symbiotic […]
The very first cells obtained their energy from geochemical reactions. LMU researchers have now managed to recreate this ancient metabolic process in their laboratory.
The terrestrial subsurface hosts microbial communities that, collectively, are predicted to comprise as many microbial cells as global surface soils.
AIST researchers, in collaboration with JAMSTEC, Hokkaido University and Tohoku University, have succeeded in cultivating an ultrasmall bacterial strain parasitizing archaea and classified the strain PMX.108T as new species and […]
At methane seeps worldwide, syntrophic anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria (ANME-SRB) promote carbonate precipitation and rock formation, acting as methane and carbon sink.
Most life on Earth relies on the sun’s energy for survival, but what about organisms in the deep sea that live beyond the reach of its rays? A new study […]
