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Title: Bacterial growth at -15°C Written by: duddy on May 27, 2013 (https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/4_27_05_13_4_07_37.jpeg) (https://biology-forums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=12381) Researchers from McGill University in Montreal have discovered a bacterium living in the frozen permafrost of the high Arctic. The permafrost bacterium, Planococcus halocryophilus strain Or1, grows and divides at -15°C and can even remain metabolically active at -25°C. This bacteria is yielding clues about how extraterrestrial organisms might endure extreme conditions - as one of the things that makes it extremely hard for life to flourish in foreboding places like Mars and the moons of Saturn is the punishing cold. Comments: I cannot wait for the day when we find a microbe like this on Mars and/or other planets. They are so amazingly resilient and adaptive! Reading articles like this make me proud to be a microbiologist! Written by: savio on May 28, 2013 |