The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars
Abstract The transition of the martian climate from the wet Noachian era to the dry Hesperian (4.1–3.0 Gya) likely resulted in saline surface waters that were rich in sulfur species. Terrestrial analogue environments that possess a similar chemistry to these proposed waters can be used to develop an...
Published in: | Scientific Reports |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67815-8.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67815-8 |
id |
crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 2023-05-15T15:05:49+02:00 The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars Macey, M. C. Fox-Powell, M. Ramkissoon, N. K. Stephens, B. P. Barton, T. Schwenzer, S. P. Pearson, V. K. Cousins, C. R. Olsson-Francis, K. Science and Technology Facilities Council Leverhulme Trust 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67815-8.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67815-8 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Scientific Reports volume 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 2022-01-04T16:43:44Z Abstract The transition of the martian climate from the wet Noachian era to the dry Hesperian (4.1–3.0 Gya) likely resulted in saline surface waters that were rich in sulfur species. Terrestrial analogue environments that possess a similar chemistry to these proposed waters can be used to develop an understanding of the diversity of microorganisms that could have persisted on Mars under such conditions. Here, we report on the chemistry and microbial community of the highly reducing sediment of Colour Peak springs, a sulfidic and saline spring system located within the Canadian High Arctic. DNA and cDNA 16S rRNA gene profiling demonstrated that the microbial community was dominated by sulfur oxidising bacteria, suggesting that primary production in the sediment was driven by chemolithoautotrophic sulfur oxidation. It is possible that the sulfur oxidising bacteria also supported the persistence of the additional taxa. Gibbs energy values calculated for the brines, based on the chemistry of Gale crater, suggested that the oxidation of reduced sulfur species was an energetically viable metabolism for life on early Mars. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Colour Peak ENVELOPE(-91.284,-91.284,79.469,79.469) Scientific Reports 10 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
spellingShingle |
Multidisciplinary Macey, M. C. Fox-Powell, M. Ramkissoon, N. K. Stephens, B. P. Barton, T. Schwenzer, S. P. Pearson, V. K. Cousins, C. R. Olsson-Francis, K. The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract The transition of the martian climate from the wet Noachian era to the dry Hesperian (4.1–3.0 Gya) likely resulted in saline surface waters that were rich in sulfur species. Terrestrial analogue environments that possess a similar chemistry to these proposed waters can be used to develop an understanding of the diversity of microorganisms that could have persisted on Mars under such conditions. Here, we report on the chemistry and microbial community of the highly reducing sediment of Colour Peak springs, a sulfidic and saline spring system located within the Canadian High Arctic. DNA and cDNA 16S rRNA gene profiling demonstrated that the microbial community was dominated by sulfur oxidising bacteria, suggesting that primary production in the sediment was driven by chemolithoautotrophic sulfur oxidation. It is possible that the sulfur oxidising bacteria also supported the persistence of the additional taxa. Gibbs energy values calculated for the brines, based on the chemistry of Gale crater, suggested that the oxidation of reduced sulfur species was an energetically viable metabolism for life on early Mars. |
author2 |
Science and Technology Facilities Council Leverhulme Trust |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Macey, M. C. Fox-Powell, M. Ramkissoon, N. K. Stephens, B. P. Barton, T. Schwenzer, S. P. Pearson, V. K. Cousins, C. R. Olsson-Francis, K. |
author_facet |
Macey, M. C. Fox-Powell, M. Ramkissoon, N. K. Stephens, B. P. Barton, T. Schwenzer, S. P. Pearson, V. K. Cousins, C. R. Olsson-Francis, K. |
author_sort |
Macey, M. C. |
title |
The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars |
title_short |
The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars |
title_full |
The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars |
title_fullStr |
The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars |
title_full_unstemmed |
The identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late Noachian Mars |
title_sort |
identification of sulfide oxidation as a potential metabolism driving primary production on late noachian mars |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67815-8.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-67815-8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-91.284,-91.284,79.469,79.469) |
geographic |
Arctic Colour Peak |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Colour Peak |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67815-8 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766337455107080192 |