ALBERT

Description: Environmental (ESEM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) investigations have resulted in the detection of a large number of complex filaments in a variety of carbonaceous meteorites. Many of the filaments were observed to be clearly embedded the rock matrix of freshly fractured interior surfaces of the meteorites. The high resolution images obtained combined with tilt and rotation of the stage provide 3-dimensional morphological and morphometric data for the filaments. Calibrated Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and 2-D elemental X-ray maps have provided information on the chemical compositions of the filaments and the minerals of the associated meteorite rock matrix. These observations are used to evaluate diverse hypotheses regarding the possible abiotic or biogenic nature of the filaments found embedded in these meteorites.

Description: No abstract available

Description: Discoveries by NASA & ESA Spacecraft provide additional evidence for present day liquid water on Mars and water/ice jets on Comets & Enceladus. Stardust mineralogical data support the Hypothesis that water-rich Comets represent parent bodies for the CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites. Undetectable Nitrogen & low O/C ratios in Filaments found in CI1 Orgueil meteorite rule out Modern Biological Contamination Hypothesis.

Description: Large complex filaments have been detected in freshly fractured interior surfaces of a variety of carbonaceous meteorites. Many exhibit the detailed morphological and morphometric characteristics of known filamentous trichomic prokaryotic microorganisms. In this paper we review prior studies of filamentous microstructures encountered in the meteorites along with the elemental compositions and characteristics of the, fibrous evaporite minerals and filamentous cyanobacteria and homologous trichomic sulfur bacteria. The meteorite images and elemental compositions will compared with data obtained with the same instruments for abiotic microstructures and living and fossil microorganisms in order to evaluate the relative merits of the alternate hypotheses that have been advanced to explain the nature and characteristics of the meteorite filaments. The possibiility that the filaments found in the meteorites may be comprise modern bio-contaminants will be evaluated in light of their observed elemental compositions and data by other researchers on the detection of indigenous complex organic biosignatures, and extraterrestrial amino acids and nucleobases found in the Murchison CM2 and the Orgueil CI1 carbonaceous meteorites.

Description: Recent studies of comets and cometary dust have confirmed the presence of biologically relevant organic molecules along with clay minerals and water ice. It is also now well established by deuterium/hydrogen ratios that the CI1 carbonaceous meteorites contain indigenous extraterrestrial water. The evidence of extensive aqueous alteration of the minerals in these meteorites led to the hypothesis that water-bearing asteroids or comets represent the parent bodies of the CI1 (and perhaps CM2) carbonaceous meteorites. These meteorites have also been shown to possess a diverse array of complex organics and chiral and morphological biomarkers. Stable isotope studies by numerous independent investigators have conclusively established that the complex organics found in these meteorites are both indigenous and extraterrestrial in nature. Although the origin of these organics is still unknown, some researchers have suggested that they originated by unknown abiotic mechanisms and may have played a role in the delivery of chiral biomolecules and the origin of life on Early Earth. In this paper we review these results and investigate the thermal history of comets. We show that permanent as well as transient domains of liquid water can be maintained on a comet under a plausible set of assumptions. With each perihelion passage of a comet volatiles are preferentially released, and during millions of such passages the comet could shed crustal debris that may survive transit through the Earth s atmosphere as a carbonaceous meteorite. We review the current state of knowledge of comets and carbonaceous meteorites. We also present the results of recent studies on the long-term viability of terrestrial ice-microbiota encased in ancient glacial ice and permafrost. We suggest that the conditions which have been observed to prevail on many comets do not preclude either survivability (or even the active metabolism and growth) of many types of eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbial extremophiles-including algae, cyanobacteria, bacteria and archaea. It is argued that the chemical and morphological biomarkers detected on comets and carbonaceous meteorites can be explained by ancient microbial activity without the need to invoke unknown abiotic production mechanisms.

Description: Diatoms are unicellular Eukaryotes that (as a group and phylogenetically) are not strictly regarded as extremophiles , since the vast majority of diatoms are mesophilic photoautotrophs. However, among the terrestrial Eukaryotes, diatoms are by far the single group of organisms with the ability to inhabit the greatest range of hostile environments on Earth. They are the dominant eukaryotes in the polar regions; in fumaroles, hot springs and geysers; and in hypersaline and hyperalkaline lakes and pools. Cryophilic species such as Fragilaria sublinearis and Chaetoceras fragilis are able to carry out respiration at extremely low rates at low temperatures in darkness. The Drake Equation refers to the likelihood of there being intelligent life at the technological level of electromagnetic communication. However, consideration of the range of conditions suitable for the habitability of eukaryotic diatoms and prokaryotic extremophiles, the likelihood that life exists elsewhere in the cosmos becomes many orders of magnitude greater than that predicted by the classical Drake Equation. In this paper we review the characteristics of diatoms as eukaryotic extremophiles and consider the implications to adjustments needed to the Drake Equation to assess the possibility that life exists elsewhere in the Universe.

Description: Microbiological analysis of several cold-preserved tissue samples from the Siberian baby mammoth known as Lyuba revealed a number of culturable bacterial strains that were grown on anaerobic media at 4 C. Lactic acid produced by LAB (lactic acid bacteria) group, usually by members of the genera Carnobacterium and Lactosphera, appears to be a wonderful preservative that prevents other bacteria from over-dominating a system. Permafrost and lactic acid preserved the body of this one-month old baby mammoth and kept it in exceptionally good condition, resulting in this mammoth being the most complete such specimen ever recovered. The diversity of novel anaerobic isolates was expressed on morphological, physiological and phylogenetic levels. Here we discuss the specifics of the isolation of new strains, differentiation from trivial contamination, and preliminary results for the characterization of cultures.