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The most extreme conditions manage the shortest possible life.
The hot springs of the Dallol region of Ethiopia represent one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet. However, their similarities to Mars' ancient environment have prompted biologists to examine them in detail.
Like the study report, published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports, life has found its place. This increases the chances that our red global neighbor has lived through it.
A harmful environment
Dallol in Ethiopia is a place where the African continent is torn apart. The bark that scales is intermixed with pockets of glowing magma – with volcanoes and many hot springs on the surface.
Their waters are practically hot, extremely acidic (with a pH of 0.25 more acidic than a vinegar whose pH reaches 2.9) and full of various salts as well as heavy metals.
It's one of the last places on Earth to search for life. And maybe that's why nobody was looking for it. Only now has the international team of European and African biologists tried to do so.
Like a piece of Mars on Earth
Several European and African researchers have motivated their search for life in one of the most inhospitable environments of our planet.
First, they wanted to examine the limits of the viability of microbes and biochemical processes as such.
And also because the Dallol region is an ideal analogy with the ancient Martian hydrothermal vents, such as those found in the Nili Patera volcanic caldera or in the Gusev crater.
Ultradrobed jednobunkovce
The researchers took samples of water and sediment from one of the local sources and searched for segments of DNA or other signs of living creatures.
And they succeeded. They found the presence of microorganisms nanohaloarcheon extremely low (even microbial reports). They are archaeologists, the former unicellar group Archea.
The microbes detected are spherical in shape and have dimensions of 50 to 500 nanometers. That is, they are about 20 times smaller than ordinary bacteria.
According to scientists, they reach the lower limit of the size of living things. Nothing less can exist because it could not happen again.
Do not underestimate life
According to biologists, the Ethiopian discovery suggests what can be expected in other worlds.
"Extensive research on this amazing place will help us better understand the limits of earthly life and provide valuable information about the opportunities of life on Mars and elsewhere in the universe," said Barbara Cavalazzi, a member of the research team.
Some researchers assume that microbes could have survived until recently, even in the depths of Mars. Their presence is unlikely to occur on or near the surface due to cosmic radiation and toxic concentrations of perchlorate and perchloric acid salts.
However, the discovery of resistant microbes from Ethiopia suggests that the ability to adapt to inhospitable conditions should not be underestimated.
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