[Nature Sensors] Deep sea microorganisms remain largely inaccessible because existing sampling and cultivation methods fail to preserve native high-pressure microenvironments from seafloor to laboratory.
microbiology
Posted inBiophysics
How A Deep-sea Protein Adapts To An Extreme Environment
[Kyushu University] Life in the deep sea is under immense pressure—literally. Such extreme conditions can disrupt the delicate structures of proteins essential to life. Yet somehow, the proteins in deep-sea […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
The Long-term Persistence Of Microbial Biospheres Introduces A Temporal Bias 1 Into The Drake Equation: Implications For The Search For Extraterrestrial Life
[eartharxiv.org] The Drake equation was designed to estimate the number of communicative technological civilisations, not the prevalence of life. Its lifetime term therefore describes a detectable technological phase that may […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
ExMODE: A Comprehensive Resource For Extremophile Genomic And Functional Exploration
[iMetaOmics] ExMODE (https://db.genomics.cn/exmode/) integrates 3518 samples to build a unified extremophile resource, which hosts 1.35 billion habitat-specific non-redundant genes, 5.25 million representative protein structures, 67,026 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), and 164,132 […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Microbial Evolution, Biogeochemical Functions, And Environmental Adaptations In A Desert Saline Lake On The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
[biorxiv.org] The Eboliang Hu saline lakes in the hyper-arid Qaidam Basin is a high-altitude, weakly acidic hypersaline system with strong environmental gradients and limited nitrogen availability.
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Compositional Heterogeneity Structures Microbial Microhabitats across Distinct Mineral Substrates
[biorxiv.org] Microbial communities living on and in rocks operate at the microscale, where interactions with minerals fundamentally shape community structure and function. Yet the relationship between micron scale mineralogical configurations […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Determining The “Biosignature Threshold” For Life Detection On Biotic, Abiotic, or Prebiotic Worlds.
[Astrobiology (Journal) via PubMed] The field of prebiotic chemistry has demonstrated that complex organic chemical systems that exhibit various life-like properties can be produced abiotically in the laboratory.
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety
Functional Profiling Of Spacecraft Cleanroom Microbiomes Through Genome‑wide Phenotype Predictions
[biorxiv.org] Current planetary protection approaches rely heavily on spore-based tests developed for Mars missions and may not adequately assess contamination risks for icy ocean worlds such as Europa.
Posted inMoon
Potential Survivable Niches For Microbial Life On The Lunar South Pole
[astro-ph.EP]. Most lunar surface conditions are incredibly harsh for microbial survival. High ultraviolet radiation, temperatures, and energetic particle radiation limit survival over most unprotected lunar surfaces, particularly in equatorial regions […]
Posted inPlanetary Protection & Biosafety
Predicting Fungal Contaminants for Space Missions Using Proteome-Wide Screening for Protein Orthologs
[biorxiv.org]. Fungal contamination poses a growing threat to spacecraft integrity, crew health, and planetary protection efforts.