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Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life

BACKGROUND: Detecting microbial life in extraterrestrial locations is a goal of space exploration because of ecological and health concerns about possible contamination of other planets with earthly organisms, and vice versa. Previously we suggested a method for life detection based on the fact that...

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Autores principales: Crawford, Ronald L, Paszczynski, Andrzej, Lang, Qingyong, Erwin, Daniel P, Allenbach, Lisa, Corti, Giancarlo, Anderson, Tony J, Cheng, I Francis, Wai, Chien, Barnes, Bruce, Wells, Richard, Assefi, Touraj, Mojarradi, Mohammad
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2002
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC119848/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12150716
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-2-22
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author Crawford, Ronald L
Paszczynski, Andrzej
Lang, Qingyong
Erwin, Daniel P
Allenbach, Lisa
Corti, Giancarlo
Anderson, Tony J
Cheng, I Francis
Wai, Chien
Barnes, Bruce
Wells, Richard
Assefi, Touraj
Mojarradi, Mohammad
author_facet Crawford, Ronald L
Paszczynski, Andrzej
Lang, Qingyong
Erwin, Daniel P
Allenbach, Lisa
Corti, Giancarlo
Anderson, Tony J
Cheng, I Francis
Wai, Chien
Barnes, Bruce
Wells, Richard
Assefi, Touraj
Mojarradi, Mohammad
author_sort Crawford, Ronald L
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Detecting microbial life in extraterrestrial locations is a goal of space exploration because of ecological and health concerns about possible contamination of other planets with earthly organisms, and vice versa. Previously we suggested a method for life detection based on the fact that living entities require a continual input of energy accessed through coupled oxidations and reductions (an electron transport chain). We demonstrated using earthly soils that the identification of extracted components of electron transport chains is useful for remote detection of a chemical signature of life. The instrument package developed used supercritical carbon dioxide for soil extraction, followed by chromatography or electrophoresis to separate extracted compounds, with final detection by voltammetry and tandem mass-spectrometry. RESULTS: Here we used Earth-derived soils to develop a related life detection system based on direct observation of a biological redox signature. We measured the ability of soil microbial communities to reduce artificial electron acceptors. Living organisms in pure culture and those naturally found in soil were shown to reduce 2,3-dichlorophenol indophenol (DCIP) and the tetrazolium dye 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide inner salt (XTT). Uninoculated or sterilized controls did not reduce the dyes. A soil from Antarctica that was determined by chemical signature and DNA analysis to be sterile also did not reduce the dyes. CONCLUSION: Observation of dye reduction, supplemented with extraction and identification of only a few specific signature redox-active biochemicals such as porphyrins or quinones, provides a simplified means to detect a signature of life in the soils of other planets or their moons.
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spelling pubmed-1198482002-09-05 Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life Crawford, Ronald L Paszczynski, Andrzej Lang, Qingyong Erwin, Daniel P Allenbach, Lisa Corti, Giancarlo Anderson, Tony J Cheng, I Francis Wai, Chien Barnes, Bruce Wells, Richard Assefi, Touraj Mojarradi, Mohammad BMC Microbiol Methodology Article BACKGROUND: Detecting microbial life in extraterrestrial locations is a goal of space exploration because of ecological and health concerns about possible contamination of other planets with earthly organisms, and vice versa. Previously we suggested a method for life detection based on the fact that living entities require a continual input of energy accessed through coupled oxidations and reductions (an electron transport chain). We demonstrated using earthly soils that the identification of extracted components of electron transport chains is useful for remote detection of a chemical signature of life. The instrument package developed used supercritical carbon dioxide for soil extraction, followed by chromatography or electrophoresis to separate extracted compounds, with final detection by voltammetry and tandem mass-spectrometry. RESULTS: Here we used Earth-derived soils to develop a related life detection system based on direct observation of a biological redox signature. We measured the ability of soil microbial communities to reduce artificial electron acceptors. Living organisms in pure culture and those naturally found in soil were shown to reduce 2,3-dichlorophenol indophenol (DCIP) and the tetrazolium dye 2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide inner salt (XTT). Uninoculated or sterilized controls did not reduce the dyes. A soil from Antarctica that was determined by chemical signature and DNA analysis to be sterile also did not reduce the dyes. CONCLUSION: Observation of dye reduction, supplemented with extraction and identification of only a few specific signature redox-active biochemicals such as porphyrins or quinones, provides a simplified means to detect a signature of life in the soils of other planets or their moons. BioMed Central 2002-07-31 /pmc/articles/PMC119848/ /pubmed/12150716 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-2-22 Text en Copyright © 2002 Crawford et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.
spellingShingle Methodology Article
Crawford, Ronald L
Paszczynski, Andrzej
Lang, Qingyong
Erwin, Daniel P
Allenbach, Lisa
Corti, Giancarlo
Anderson, Tony J
Cheng, I Francis
Wai, Chien
Barnes, Bruce
Wells, Richard
Assefi, Touraj
Mojarradi, Mohammad
Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
title Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
title_full Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
title_fullStr Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
title_full_unstemmed Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
title_short Measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
title_sort measurement of microbial activity in soil by colorimetric observation of in situ dye reduction: an approach to detection of extraterrestrial life
topic Methodology Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC119848/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12150716
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-2-22
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