A Balloon Experiment to Detect Microorganisms in the Outer Space

Narlikar, Jayant V.; Lloyd, David; Wickramasinghe, N. C.; Harris, Melanie J.; Turner, Marion; Al-Mufti, S.; Wallis, M. K.; Wainwright, Milton; Rajaratnam, P.; Shivaji, Sisinthy; Reddy, G. S. N.; Ramadurai, S.; Hoyle, F.

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-1605-5_27

Cited by 11 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our study confirmed the presence of viable microbes in the stratosphere, supporting previous reports by Imshenetsky et al (1978), Lysenko (1980), Harris et al (2002), Wainwright et al (2002), Narlikar et al (2003), Griffin (2004Griffin ( , 2008, and Shivaji et al (2006). However, our samples are the first documentation of microbiota recovered from a high-altitude location directly over the Pacific Ocean.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

“…and class Eurotiomycetes for fungi. The bacterial isolates reported in this study are all spore forming species and have been collected in prior stratospheric assays, at genus-level specificity (Imshenetsky et al 1978;Wainwright et al 2002;Narlikar et al 2003;Griffin 2004). Although non-spore forming eubacterial species have been recovered from the stratosphere (Griffin 2008), sporulation likely enhances resistance to high-altitude stress (Riesenman and Nicholson 2000;Nicholson 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Rather, the viable bacteria and fungi reported herein were most likely associated with temporary, trans-Pacific dust events which last 7-10 days before most particles fall out of the atmosphere. While Narlikar et al (2003), Shivaji et al (2006) and Wainwright et al (2006) use the discovery of nonculturable particulates and novel species as evidence of a distinct stratosphere ecology, no mechanism has Aerobiologia (2010) 26:35-46 43 been presented to explain how microbes could remain aloft, growing or replicating. The possibility of a permanent, upper-atmosphere ecosystem seems unlikely based on several lines of evidence.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…For instance, the stratosphere has greater extremes of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, desiccation, cold temperatures, and nutrient deprivation than the troposphere (Brasseur and Solomon 1986;Lysenko and Demina 1992;Nicholson et al 2000). Yet, several studies conducted in the stratosphere have reported viable, airborne microbes (Imshenetsky et al 1978;Lysenko 1980;Harris et al 2002;Wainwright et al 2002;Narlikar et al 2003;Griffin 2004Griffin , 2008, including novel species (Shivaji et al 2006). Missions to sample stratospheric biota have been historically infrequent, making it difficult to answer even basic ecological questions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Stratospheric microbiology at 20 km over the Pacific Ocean

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An aerobiology sampling flight at 20 km was conducted on 28 April 2008 over the Pacific Ocean (36.5°N, 118-149°W), a period of time that coincided with the movement of Asian dust across the ocean. The aim of this study was to confirm the presence of viable bacteria and fungi within a transoceanic, atmospheric bridge and to improve the resolution of flight hardware processing techniques. Isolates of the microbial strains recovered were analyzed with ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) sequencing to identify bacterial species Bacillus sp., Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus endophyticus, and the fungal genus Penicillium. Satellite imagery and ground-based radiosonde observations were used to measure dust movement and characterize the high-altitude environment at the time of collection. Considering the atmospheric residency time (7-10 days), the extreme temperature regime of the environment (-75°C), and the absence of a mechanism that could sustain particulates at high altitude, it is unlikely that our samples indicate a permanent, stratospheric ecosystem. However, the presence of viable fungi and bacteria in transoceanic stratosphere remains relevant to understanding the distribution and extent of microbial life on Earth.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Stratospheric microbiology at 20 km over the Pacific Ocean

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition to rocky bodies, comets provide another useful vehicle for the transfer of biologically active material. As an added advantage, when comets pass through the atmosphere of an Earth-like planet, they tend to disintegrate into dust and can thereby deposit biological material in a viable state (e.g., Narlikar et al, 2003). For further discussion regarding the survival of microorganisms during infall, see Hoyle et al (1999).…”

Section: Transfer Probabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lithopanspermia in Star-Forming Clusters

Adams

Spergel

2005

Astrobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper considers the lithopanspermia hypothesis in star forming groups and clusters, where the chances of biological material spreading from one solar system to another is greatly enhanced (relative to action in the field) due to the close proximity of the systems and lower relative velocities. These effects more than compensate for the reduced time spent in such crowded environments. This paper uses ∼ 300, 000 Monte Carlo scattering calculations to determine the cross sections σ cap for rocks to be captured by binaries and provides fitting formulae for other applications. We assess the odds of transfer as a function of the ejection speed v eject and number N ⋆ of members in the birth aggregate. The odds of any given ejected meteroid being recaptured by another solar system are relatively low, about 1 in 10 3 − 10 6 over the expected range of ejection speeds and cluster sizes. Because the number of ejected rocks (with mass m > 10 kg) per system can be large, N R ∼ 10 16 , virtually all solar systems are likely to share rocky ejecta with all of the other solar systems in their birth cluster. The number of ejected rocks that carry living microorganisms is much smaller and less certain, but we estimate that N B ∼ 10 7 rocks can be ejected from a biologically active solar system. For typical birth environments, the capture of life bearing rocks is expected to occur N bio ≈ 10 -16,000 times per cluster (under favorable conditions), depending on the ejection speeds. Only a small fraction (f imp ∼ 10 −4 ) of the captured rocks impact the surfaces of terrestrial planets, so that N lps ≈ 10 −3 − 1.6 lithopanspermia events are expected (per cluster). Finally, we discuss the question of internal vs external seeding of clusters and the possibility of Earth seeding young clusters over its biologically active lifetime.

show abstract

Microbial survival in the stratosphere and implications for global dispersal

et al. 2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spores of Bacillus subtilis were exposed to a series of stratosphere simulations. In total, five distinct treatments measured the effect of reduced pressure, low temperature, high desiccation, and intense ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on stratosphereisolated and ground-isolated B. subtilis strains. Environmental conditions were based on springtime data from a mid-latitude region of the lower stratosphere (20 km). Experimentally, each treatment consisted of the following independent or combined conditions: -70°C, 56 mb, 10-12% relative humidity and 0.00421, 5.11, and 54.64 W/m 2 of UVC (200-280 nm), UVB (280-315 nm), UVA (315-400 nm), respectively. Bacteria were deposited on metal coupon surfaces in monolayers of *1 9 10 6 spores and prepared with palagonite (particle size \ 20 lm). After 6 h of exposure to the stratosphere environment, 99.9% of B. subtilis spores were killed due to UV irradiation. In contrast, temperature, desiccation, and pressure simulations without UV had no effect on spore viability up through 96 h. There were no differences in survival between the stratosphere-isolated versus ground-isolated B. subtilis strains. Inactivation of most bacteria in our simulation indicates that the stratosphere can be a critical barrier to long-distance microbial dispersal and that survival in the upper atmosphere may be constrained by UV irradiation.

show abstract

A Balloon Experiment to Detect Microorganisms in the Outer Space

Cited by 11 publications

References 10 publications

Stratospheric microbiology at 20 km over the Pacific Ocean

Stratospheric microbiology at 20 km over the Pacific Ocean

Lithopanspermia in Star-Forming Clusters

Microbial survival in the stratosphere and implications for global dispersal

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About