Microbes can be found in any environment on Earth, including hot -boiling hot springs from Yellowstone. Few organisms can withstand burning waters, Like a poor bison recently discovered. However, understanding how these microbes have survived and adapted in this severe environment could help us understand how life has evolved on earth and why these hot sources are an essential element of scientific research.
A study, published in Nature communications, Analysis three microbes collected from two different hot sources in Yellowstone National Park and reveals how they can have adapted in an environment with a low oxygen content and evolve to live today.
Life with low oxygen
For this study, researchers from the Montana State University (MSU) analyzed three microbes in the park: Aquificota (Thermocrinis), Pyropristinus (Caldipriscus), and thermoproteota (Pyrobaculum). These three microbes are thermophilic, which means that they thrive at high temperatures, such as the hot sources of 190 degrees Fahrenheit from which they were collected.
According to researchers Bill Inskeep, professor in the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences of MSU, and Mensur Dlakic, associate professor of the Department of Microbiology and Cellular Biology in MSU, two of the hot sources of Yellowstone, Conch Spring and Octopus Spring were selected for microbial extraction because of their geochemical similarities.
Although the study notes that Spring Conch has higher quantities of sulfide and oxygen compared to the spring of octopus, this difference allows researchers to compare microbes with high and low oxygen levels.
Learn more:: What does Yellowstone Caldera look like for a year?
Breathe
With the new information collected, the researchers hope that it will highlight the evolution of life before the big oxidation event, which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago. Before the event, our atmosphere only contained 2% oxygen. Subsequently, it increased to 20%.
“When oxygen began to increase in the environment, these thermophiles were probably important at the origin of microbial life,” said Inskeep, in a press release. “There was an evolution of the organisms that used oxygen. Octopus [Spring] More oxygen, and of course, there are more aerobic organisms there. These environments have molds of different characters. »»
The microbes that the research team have analyzed are all in banners who live in fast water currents. These may resemble stringy algae or Varech plants that attach to rocks and other objects in the spring. They cultivate filaments that seem to be “moving” in water.
While the three thermophilic microbes were found every spring, the team discovered that the spring of octopus, that with the higher oxygen content, had a greater variety of microbes. These results show that thermophilic microbes have been able to develop and adapt in a richer oxygen environment.
Virgin environment
To obtain the results, the researchers examined the respiratory genes in the microbes of each spring and compared them. They found that the genes of microbes with low oxygen content of Conch spring had become strongly expressed, indicating that they were more active. The most oxygenated octopus spring microbes expressed more suitable genes for high oxygen levels.
“It would be very difficult to reproduce this type of experience in the laboratory; imagine trying to [create] The hot water flows with just the good quantities of oxygen and sulfide, “Inskeep said in a press release.” And this is what is so well in the study of these environments. We can make these observations under the exact geochemical conditions of which these organizations must prosper. »»
It also recalls why these thermal pools should be protected. In the recent incident with The Bison, the park officials decided not to remove the animal, as it could disrupt the bacterial life that lives in the hot source. According to the Usgs, Damage like this could take up to a year to repair.
While the average visitor of the park may not think much of the microbes that live in the thermal pools of Yellowstone National Park, understanding them is another piece of the puzzle when it comes to understanding us and our evolution.
“It may seem counterattack to understand complex life by studying something simple, but this is how it should start,” Dlakic said in a press release. “You have to think to understand where we are today.”
Learn more:: The Yellowstone bison meets a tragic end to Hot Spring, showing the danger of hydrothermal characteristics
This article is a republished version of this before Article published here.
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com Use studies evaluated by high -quality peers and sources for our articles, and our publishers examine scientific precision and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
A graduate of Uw-Whitewater, Monica Cull wrote for several organizations, including a focus on bees and the natural world, before coming to Discover Magazine. His current work also appears on his travel blog and his Common State magazine. His love of science came to watch PBS shows like a child with his mother and spend too much time at Binging Doctor who.
