Antarctic Bacteria as Astrobiological Models

Antarctica contains many different types of habitat that would traditionally be considered harsh from a human perspective; it can be extremely cold, have low levels of liquid water, low humidity, low nutrient availability, high levels of salinity and high levels of non-ionizing radiation. Yet a wide variety of bacteria have been found living there, despite these harsh conditions; some of them are believed to be unique to the continent, others more cosmopolitan in distribution. When we compare aspects of these Antarctic habitats to conditions known to occur on Mars, or to what is known of the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, we find notable similarities even though, clearly, significant differences remain. It is therefore unsurprising that scientists have used bacteria isolated from the Antarctic as astrobiological models. The extent to which this has been done to date, however, is perhaps surprisingly limited despite the enormous potential in this approach. In this chapter, we examine the differences and similarities between specific habitats in Antarctica and those which they might mimic on Mars, Europa and Enceladus. It considers the nature of the microbiological adaptions found in these Antarctic habitats and the experiments carried out to date on bacteria isolated from them. The chapter concludes by discussing the future potential of Antarctic bacterial species as well as the lessons learnt in understanding the limits of life here on Earth and the possibility of finding evidence of microbial life elsewhere in the solar system

Astrobiology and the possibility of life on Earth and elsewhere…

Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary scientific field not only focused on the search of extraterrestrial life, but also on deciphering the key environmental parameters that have enabled the emergence of life on Earth. Understanding these physical and chemical parameters is fundamental knowledge necessary not only for discovering life or signs of life on other planets, but also for understanding our own terrestrial environment. Therefore, astrobiology pushes us to combine different perspectives such as the conditions on the primitive Earth, the physicochemical limits of life, exploration of habitable environments in the Solar System, and the search for signatures of life in exoplanets. Chemists, biologists, geologists, planetologists and astrophysicists are contributing extensively to this interdisciplinary research field. From 2011 to 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) had the initiative to gather a Topical Team of interdisciplinary scientists focused on astrobiology to review the profound transformations in the field that have occurred since the beginning of the new century. The present paper is an interdisciplinary review of current research in astrobiology, covering the major advances and main outlooks in the field. The following subjects will be reviewed and most recent discoveries will be highlighted: the new understanding of planetary system formation including the specificity of the Earth among the diversity of planets, the origin of water on Earth and its unique combined properties among solvents for the emergence of life, the idea that the Earth could have been habitable during the Hadean Era, the inventory of endogenous and exogenous sources of organic matter and new concepts about how chemistry could evolve towards biological molecules and biological systems. In addition, many new findings show the remarkable potential life has for adaptation and survival in extreme environments. All those results from different fields of science are guiding our perspectives and strategies to look for life in other Solar System objects as well as beyond, in extrasolar worlds