‘Fettuccine’ Is Evident Towards Life on Mars – Says an Independent Research

An independent research in the journal Astrobiology reports of rocks looking like pasta, when the surface of Mars was scanned by a rover for collecting the evidence of life on it.   

Bruce Fouke – a geology professor from the renowned University of Illinois, who was at the helm of the new NASA-funded study asserted that “The formation of such kind of rocks on Earth is since ancient times and is controlled by the same bacterium. It thrives in similar harsh surroundings as that on the Mars, it is recognized by an unusual name Sulfurihydrogenibium yellowstonense, we call it as Sulfuri.”  

“Roughly 2.35 billion years ago, this bacterium belongs to a lineage prior to oxygenation of the Earth,” he added further.

It can efficiently exist in severely hot, fast-flowing water pipping up from hot springs. It can survive to UV lights alongside withstanding low oxygen environments by utilizing Sulfur and CO2 as source of energy. Bruce said, “These knacks make it a significant frontrunner for colonizing Mars or any other planet.” He added that, “It catalyses the creation of crystalline rock that look similar to pasta layers, which is an easy life form to be detected on the other planets.”

The unique shape and structure of rocks associated with Sulfuri result from its unusual lifestyle, Fouke said. In fast-flowing water, Sulfuri bacteria latch on to one another "and hang on for dear life," he said.

He stated that, “It creates a framework of firmly wound cables swaying like a flag, thereby outshining other microbes from getting attached.” The Sulfuri also defends itself by oozing slippery mucus.

"These Sulfuri cables look amazingly like fettuccine pasta, while further downstream they look more like capellini pasta," Fouke said. The researchers used sterilized pasta forks to collect their samples from Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

The team analyzed the microbial genomes, evaluated which genes were being actively translated into proteins and deciphered the organism's metabolic needs, Fouke said.

The team also looked at Sulfuri's rock-building capabilities, finding that proteins on the bacterial surface speed up the rate at which calcium carbonate -- also called travertine -- crystallizes in and across the cables. Bruce also stated that, “It is like 1 Billion times faster than in any other surroundings on the Earth.” This results in formation of broad swaths of a hard rock recognized by an undulating and filamentous texture.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190529113108.htm