Was Earth Ever Infected by Martian Biota? Clues from Radioresistant Bacteria

Pavlov, A. K.; Kalinin, V.L.; Konstantinov, A. N.; Shelegedin, V. N.; Pavlov, Alexander A.

doi:10.1089/ast.2006.6.911

Cited by 27 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…D'Hondt et al (140b) found microbial activities in these deeply buried sediments with high ionizing radiation levels. A Martian origin of D. radiodurans and other radiation-resistant bacteria has been proposed to explain the development of radiation resistance in these bacteria under highly radiating Martian conditions, followed by the transfer of the "trained" bacteria to Earth via meteorites (485). Diaz and Schulze-Makuch (141) showed that D. radiodurans could survive Martian-like conditions of low temperatures (Ϫ35°C for 10 days), low pressure (83.3 kPa for 10 days), and high UV radiation (37 W/m 2 for 24 h), which occur near the surface of Mars.…”

Section: Ionizing Radiation Resistance Of D Radioduransmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxidative Stress Resistance inDeinococcus radiodurans

Slade

Radman

2011

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

660

639

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SUMMARY Deinococcus radiodurans is a robust bacterium best known for its capacity to repair massive DNA damage efficiently and accurately. It is extremely resistant to many DNA-damaging agents, including ionizing radiation and UV radiation (100 to 295 nm), desiccation, and mitomycin C, which induce oxidative damage not only to DNA but also to all cellular macromolecules via the production of reactive oxygen species. The extreme resilience of D. radiodurans to oxidative stress is imparted synergistically by an efficient protection of proteins against oxidative stress and an efficient DNA repair mechanism, enhanced by functional redundancies in both systems. D. radiodurans assets for the prevention of and recovery from oxidative stress are extensively reviewed here. Radiation- and desiccation-resistant bacteria such as D. radiodurans have substantially lower protein oxidation levels than do sensitive bacteria but have similar yields of DNA double-strand breaks. These findings challenge the concept of DNA as the primary target of radiation toxicity while advancing protein damage, and the protection of proteins against oxidative damage, as a new paradigm of radiation toxicity and survival. The protection of DNA repair and other proteins against oxidative damage is imparted by enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant defense systems dominated by divalent manganese complexes. Given that oxidative stress caused by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species is associated with aging and cancer, a comprehensive outlook on D. radiodurans strategies of combating oxidative stress may open new avenues for antiaging and anticancer treatments. The study of the antioxidation protection in D. radiodurans is therefore of considerable potential interest for medicine and public health.

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Section: Ionizing Radiation Resistance Of D Radioduransmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxidative Stress Resistance inDeinococcus radiodurans

Slade

Radman

2011

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

660

639

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“…But, it arose and quickly evolved, improving the mechanisms of adaptation in a changing environment. The experience of the early evolution of life in the conditions of the young Earth (or outside it, in accordance with the hypothesis of panspermia) should be fixed in the genetic material of descendants of the primary biosphere [118]. This gives grounds for assumptions that the high stability of the currently observed effects of adaptation of biosystems to cosmo-geophysical impacts are atavisms of the geological epoch of the much more active early Sun [119,120].…”

Section: Implications For Habitability Assessmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survivability of Soil and Permafrost Microbial Communities after Irradiation with Accelerated Electrons under Simulated Martian and Open Space Conditions

et al. 2018

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Abstract:One of the prior current astrobiological tasks is revealing the limits of microbial resistance to extraterrestrial conditions. Much attention is paid to ionizing radiation, since it can prevent the preservation and spread of life outside the Earth. The aim of this research was to study the impact of accelerated electrons (~1 MeV) as component of space radiation on microbial communities in their natural habitat-the arid soil and ancient permafrost, and also on the pure bacterial cultures that were isolated from these ecotopes. The irradiation was carried out at low pressure (~0.01 Torr) and low temperature (−130 • C) to simulate the conditions of Mars or outer space. High doses of 10 kGy and 100 kGy were used to assess the effect of dose accumulation in inactive and hypometabolic cells, depending on environmental conditions under long-term irradiation estimated on a geological time scale. It was shown that irradiation with accelerated electrons in the applied doses did not sterilize native samples from Earth extreme habitats. The data obtained suggests that viable Earth-like microorganisms can be preserved in the anabiotic state for at least 1.3 and 20 million years in the regolith of modern Mars in the shallow subsurface layer and at a 5 m depth, respectively. In addition, the results of the study indicate the possibility of maintaining terrestrial like life in the ice of Europa at a 10 cm depth for at least~170 years or for at least 400 thousand years in open space within meteorites. It is established that bacteria in natural habitat has a much higher resistance to in situ irradiation with accelerated electrons when compared to their stability in pure isolated cultures. Thanks to the protective properties of the heterophase environment and the interaction between microbial populations even radiosensitive microorganisms as members of the native microbial communities are able to withstand very high doses of ionizing radiation.

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“…Why and how did robust life evolve, in particular, because no radiation sources on Earth are known that could produce doses comparable to those of Dra resistance? The hypothesis of an extraterrestrial origin of Dra (Pavlov et al 2006) should place its genome outside the terrestrial phylogenetic tree (which is not true; see below), unless all DNA-sequenced terrestrial life was seeded by Dra, that is, descended from a deinococcal panspermia. In that case, Dra should be at the root of the current DNA-based terrestrial phylogenetic tree.…”

Section: Robustness and Lifestyle Of Deinococcus Radiodurans (Dra)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Biology of Extreme Radiation Resistance: The Way of Deinococcus radiodurans

Kriško

Radman

2013

Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology

207

125

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The bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans is a champion of extreme radiation resistance that is accounted for by a highly efficient protection against proteome, but not genome, damage. A well-protected functional proteome ensures cell recovery from extensive radiation damage to other cellular constituents by molecular repair and turnover processes, including an efficient repair of disintegrated DNA. Therefore, cell death correlates with radiationinduced protein damage, rather than DNA damage, in both robust and standard species. From the reviewed biology of resistance to radiation and other sources of oxidative damage, we conclude that the impact of protein damage on the maintenance of life has been largely underestimated in biology and medicine.

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Was Earth Ever Infected by Martian Biota? Clues from Radioresistant Bacteria

Cited by 27 publications

References 32 publications

Oxidative Stress Resistance inDeinococcus radiodurans

Oxidative Stress Resistance inDeinococcus radiodurans

Survivability of Soil and Permafrost Microbial Communities after Irradiation with Accelerated Electrons under Simulated Martian and Open Space Conditions

Biology of Extreme Radiation Resistance: The Way of Deinococcus radiodurans

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