Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions
Abstract The subsurface oceans of Enceladus and Europa are thought to be some of the best candidate environments for finding life beyond Earth. Realistically, the first missions aimed at searching for life on these worlds will likely be restricted to the shallow subsurface. Here, we investigated whe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01872-z |
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| _version_ | 1846164845232128000 |
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| author | Lena N. Vincent Edith C. Fayolle Robert Hodyss Paul V. Johnson Aaron C. Noell |
| author_facet | Lena N. Vincent Edith C. Fayolle Robert Hodyss Paul V. Johnson Aaron C. Noell |
| author_sort | Lena N. Vincent |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The subsurface oceans of Enceladus and Europa are thought to be some of the best candidate environments for finding life beyond Earth. Realistically, the first missions aimed at searching for life on these worlds will likely be restricted to the shallow subsurface. Here, we investigated whether indicators of life, or biosignatures, deposited near the surface could persist long enough to be detected, given that the extremely harsh conditions there would tend to degrade them. We exposed Bacillus subtilis spores to Ocean World surface conditions and used electron microscopy combined with spectroscopic approaches to assess the preservation potential of structural and morphological biosignatures derived from spores. Our results show that spore structure is highly resilient in the face of extreme conditions long after they have been inactivated, suggesting that methods targeting cell morphology would be valuable components in a suite of life detection strategies used in future missions to Ocean Worlds. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f3e6f1a2ba5940f7921d1bb19b17add9 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2662-4435 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Earth & Environment |
| spelling | doaj-art-f3e6f1a2ba5940f7921d1bb19b17add92024-11-17T12:50:22ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Earth & Environment2662-44352024-11-015111010.1038/s43247-024-01872-zBacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditionsLena N. Vincent0Edith C. Fayolle1Robert Hodyss2Paul V. Johnson3Aaron C. Noell4Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyAbstract The subsurface oceans of Enceladus and Europa are thought to be some of the best candidate environments for finding life beyond Earth. Realistically, the first missions aimed at searching for life on these worlds will likely be restricted to the shallow subsurface. Here, we investigated whether indicators of life, or biosignatures, deposited near the surface could persist long enough to be detected, given that the extremely harsh conditions there would tend to degrade them. We exposed Bacillus subtilis spores to Ocean World surface conditions and used electron microscopy combined with spectroscopic approaches to assess the preservation potential of structural and morphological biosignatures derived from spores. Our results show that spore structure is highly resilient in the face of extreme conditions long after they have been inactivated, suggesting that methods targeting cell morphology would be valuable components in a suite of life detection strategies used in future missions to Ocean Worlds.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01872-z |
| spellingShingle | Lena N. Vincent Edith C. Fayolle Robert Hodyss Paul V. Johnson Aaron C. Noell Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions Communications Earth & Environment |
| title | Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions |
| title_full | Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions |
| title_fullStr | Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions |
| title_short | Bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated Enceladus and Europa surface conditions |
| title_sort | bacterial spore morphology remains highly recognizable after exposure to simulated enceladus and europa surface conditions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01872-z |
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