Cargando…
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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
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 |
_version_ | 1782120295521320960 |
---|---|
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. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-119848 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2002 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT crawfordronaldl measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT paszczynskiandrzej measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT langqingyong measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT erwindanielp measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT allenbachlisa measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT cortigiancarlo measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT andersontonyj measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT chengifrancis measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT waichien measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT barnesbruce measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT wellsrichard measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT assefitouraj measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife AT mojarradimohammad measurementofmicrobialactivityinsoilbycolorimetricobservationofinsitudyereductionanapproachtodetectionofextraterrestriallife |