Common Yeast Can Survive Martian Conditions (phys.org) 33
A new study shows that common baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) can survive Mars-like conditions, including meteorite shock waves and toxic perchlorate salts found in Martian soil. Phys.org reports: Published in PNAS Nexus, Purusharth I. Rajyaguru and colleagues subjected Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is a widely used model yeast, to shock waves and perchlorates. The authors chose the yeast in part because it has already been studied in space. When stressed, yeast, humans, and many other organisms form ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates, structures made of RNA and proteins that protect RNA and affect the fates of mRNAs. When the stressor passes, the RNP condensates, which include subtypes known as stress granules and P-bodies, disassemble.
The authors simulated Martian shock waves at the High-Intensity Shock Tube for Astrochemistry (HISTA) housed in the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Yeast exposed to 5.6 Mach intensity shock waves survived with slowed growth, as did yeast subjected to 100 mM sodium salt of perchlorate (NaClO4) -- a concentration similar to that in Martian soils. Yeast cells also survived exposure to the combined stress of shock waves and perchlorate stress. In both cases, the yeast assembled RNP condensates. Shock waves induced the assembly of stress granules and P-bodies; perchlorate caused yeast to make P-bodies but not stress granules. Mutants incapable of assembling RNP condensates were poor at surviving the Martian stress condition. Transcriptome analysis identified specific RNA transcripts perturbed by Mars-like conditions.
The authors simulated Martian shock waves at the High-Intensity Shock Tube for Astrochemistry (HISTA) housed in the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Yeast exposed to 5.6 Mach intensity shock waves survived with slowed growth, as did yeast subjected to 100 mM sodium salt of perchlorate (NaClO4) -- a concentration similar to that in Martian soils. Yeast cells also survived exposure to the combined stress of shock waves and perchlorate stress. In both cases, the yeast assembled RNP condensates. Shock waves induced the assembly of stress granules and P-bodies; perchlorate caused yeast to make P-bodies but not stress granules. Mutants incapable of assembling RNP condensates were poor at surviving the Martian stress condition. Transcriptome analysis identified specific RNA transcripts perturbed by Mars-like conditions.
Including air pressure (or lack thereof)? (Score:4, Insightful)
Surviving Martian soil is the easy part. Being able to survive at near zero air pressure is the hard part.
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Not forgetting inconsequential things like temperature and radiation as well....
Re:Including air pressure (or lack thereof)? (Score:5, Interesting)
Codyslab on youtube had an idea. Dig a very deep hole that you fill with air, it will be pressurized and mostly protected.
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That's the key to life....so, maybe we can do it!!
I mean, the pilgrims stopped when and where they did because they ran outta beer...so, we know how important it is to long travel.....
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https://vinepair.com/beer-101/... [vinepair.com]
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Just surviving is irrelevant (Score:3)
Plenty of microbes and tardigrades can survive extremely harsh conditions by going into a kind of suspended animation. Thats not much use for growing and reproduction however. "Surviving" in the case of this yeast seems to mean little more than not immediately dying.
Re: Just surviving is irrelevant (Score:2)
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I suspect the idea they are hinting at is that ancient yeast might have been living on (then-livable) Mars and got meteorite-blasted over to Earth, and survived the trip. For a temporary trip like that, survival is sufficient.
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Might be useful data for otherwise fanciful terraforming ideas, it'd be easier to make a "geologic timescale short-lived" atmosphere artificially than to modify the soil. And if microbes could grow in it they could off-gas to keep the atmosphere building up faster than the solar wind strips it.
Easier is relative, though. All the nuclear weapons on Earth would still be two orders of magnitude too little to get an adequate atmosphere. As I understand, you'd need several thousand gigatons to get a low single-digit percent of Earth's atmospheric pressure.
And for humans to survive for more than about a minute even with external oxygen (the Armstrong limit [wikipedia.org]), you'd need to reach about 40% of Earth's atmospheric pressure. There's probably not enough CO2 ice on all of Mars to pull that off. Best guess
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Re: Including air pressure (or lack thereof)? (Score:1)
A new TV special (Score:3, Funny)
Martha Stewart bakes bread...on Mars!
Re: A new TV special (Score:3)
Re: A new TV special (Score:1)
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That's some harsh punishment. I thought she'd served her sentence?
Come on, that show she hosted with Snoop wasn't that bad.
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Fuck that.....think BEER!!!
lol...get your priorities together man....
Next paper... (Score:1)
Is European swallow well adapted to life on Earth?
In this study, we investigate how well swallows cope with being in a cage tied to the front of a typical concert speaker as can be found on Earth. Significant reduction in the reproduction rate has been noted and in the conclusion we discuss the impact this will have on the future of the species.
Thank god (Score:5, Insightful)
A Mars without beer is not a Mars I want to visit.
Marsmite? (Score:2)
Love it or hate it?
For our colonial cousins, Marmite is a yeast extract used as a savoury condiment and considered by some as delicious spread on toast and cut into soldiers. Called Vegamite down under, though it is of course inferior, too runny, salty for my taste, but loved in song [youtube.com]
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Marmite is beer that failed or didn't try hard enough. It looks, smells and tastes like death.
Bovril is where it's at!! It's origins are honest and meaty.
Matt Damon (Score:2)
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Let's just start throwing life all over Mars and hope something sticks.
This goes good with the previous post about Matt Damon's poop potatoes. But what better time to look for proof of life while we are waiting on our beer to be made?
Super-yeast (Score:2)
P-bodies, disassemble!
so what? (Score:2)
So what? Human eggs can survive cryogenic conditions, like on Uranus.
Claim not actually proven (Score:3)
As every software engineer knows, when it works on *your* computer, it doesn't mean it will work on somebody else's.
The only actual way to test whether yeast can survive on Mars, is to try the experiment on Mars.
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The last thing we need to do is give Mars a yeast infection.
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Ouch! Yeah those little Martians will not be happy about that!
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You can be darned sure they will use their Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator on us if this happens.