Are Earth's Ocean Extremeophiles a Prelude to What Might Lie Beneath Jupiter's Europa? (Today's Most Popular)

Wonder what life of Jupiter's moon, Europa, might look like? Keep in mind that Earth's deepest ocean is the Pacific's seven-mile-deep Mariana Trench vs Europa's estimated depth of 62 miles. A possible Earth life-analog to Europa's is a new species of archaebacteria, Pyrococcus CH1,discovered thriving on a mid-Atlantic ridge within a temperature range of 80 to 105°C and able to divide itself up to a hydrostatic pressure of 120 Mpa (1000 times higher than the atmospheric pressure).

This discovery was made by an international team of microbiologists of the Microbiology of Extreme Environments Laboratory in partnership with the Institute of Oceanography of Xiamen (China) and the Earth Science Laboratory. This archaebacteria had been isolated from samples by a Franco-Russian team that explored the mid-Atlantic ridge for six weeks searching for new hydrothermal vents.

The piezophilic microorganisms constitute a subgroup of extremophiles. Discovered on the site “Ashadze”(2) at 4100 meters depth, the deepest vent field explored so far, the CH1 strain was successfully isolated and assigned to the genus Pyrococcus, within the Euryarchaeota lineage of the Archae domain. The discovery extends the known physical and chemical limits of life on Earth.

The reason scientists believed for so long that life did not exist in the deepest parts of the sea is because the oxygen that filters down is centuries old, having formed near the surface through photosynthesis by microscopic plants known as phytoplankton.

In the "hadal" zone, which at 11,000m is deeper than Mount Everest is high – the pressure rises to 1,000 bar, or a ton per square centimeter. And as there is practically no light, plants cannot grow, so there is little food.

Pyrococcus CH1 is only one on many examples of extremophilic microorganisms on our planet, all of which point vividly to what we might eventually discover as NASA's future probes explore the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

Extremophiles are the ultimate adventurers. These organisms thrive where other microbes don’t dare venture: boiling water holes, freezing lakes, and toxic waste dumps. Researchers have sequenced the genomes of two extremophiles that live at the bottom of Ace Lake in Antarctica, where there is no oxygen and the average temperature is a brutal 33 degrees below Fahrenheit.
 
Deep Sea Vents Extraterrestrial life is the most interesting thing ever, bar nothing.  We have two possible life-locations right here on our solar system doorstep - but we have to choose which to check.  We want to go everywhere, but with a price-tag of billions of dollars per outer-planet probe we have to decide and flipping a coin just won't cut it.

Option Number One is Jupiter's Europa, the favored satellite son of many exobiologists and even Arthur C. Clarke himself.  While distinctly non-Terran, huge sub-surface lakes probably heated by tidal stresses, and even an extremely tenuous oxygen atmosphere make it a leading contender.  Hot water and even some air?  Is there a more likely life-site without tiny bacteria-sized jacuzzis?

Number Two is Saturn's Titan, a very-Terran option whose surface lakes, shorelines, seasons and relatively thick nitrogen atmosphere mean it's viewed as an early-model Earth.  And 100% of all know Earths have awesome life on them!  The significantly lower temperature is a bit of a stumbling block (it's ten times as far from the sun as us), but the possibility of subterranean microbial life - or even a prebiotic "Life could happen!" environment - would be a massive result.

The Daily Galaxy via ifremer.fr

Comments

[AAA2TY]

Enceladus should be #1 choice

[Granville Lovell]

I would love to show you and the world a discovery and the USA will not look into my discoveries that are very real. Over 35 years ago I discovered that there is a way that the world captures/Stores images of People and events which are now images from the worlds past and I can get these images that go all the way back in time. I have sacaned the Earth for over 35 years now and can get images from the worlds past all day long every day. There is NO ONE in the world that can do what I do. Skipping a lot of information-------I Found out that it also works the same on other planets. I have found that I can get images of Very Human looking people on Mars BUT ! only in spots which suggest that it is only where they have underground entrances and I have saw some mechanical devices. -----Skipping ahead again On Titan I found very good pictures of Very human looking people . How much would the first images/Pictures of people be worth ? Priceless ? NO! Because I could use the money for further research. NOW ! for something very crazy to tell you that I found----ON MARS I found a device sitting on the planet that has some Fifths of Vodka or Whiskey ? I told you it sounds crazy but I did find it and I thought of you , Could you have or anyone have sent this to MARS ? I told you it sounds crazy but I saw it and it was the last thing I expected to see. It is a Square shaped bottle with a taperd neck. there is a lable on it and I can't make out what is on the label ? If this sounds too crazy ignore it but I really see it. Only explanation is that someone is able to get it from earth and I don't know how???? I am very good at imaging and I can tell and teach you many things that none of the world knows about. I am on facebook name is --- -- ---- ------ . There are many people on my facebook from NASA and Astronomers etc. Come join me and Friends Thanks

[Gerry]

Well, I can't hope to top the previous comment, but here goes:
First, there's this quote:
"The reason scientists believed for so long that life did not exist in the deepest parts of the sea is because the oxygen that filters down is centuries old"
Now, I'm not a chemist,so will someone please explain to me how old oxygen differs from young oxygen, and why this difference should prevent life?

The other problem I find with this and many articles on the topic is that I don't see how the presence of terrestrial extremophiles says much about possible non-terrestrial life. At least, don't we need to know more than we do now about the origins of life before we draw any conclusions? As far as we know, life did not originate in the extreme deep sea or in some other environment that we now consider extreme. The life in these environments started elsewhere and *adapted* to the extremes. It has to originate before it can adapt. If the extreme environments on other planets or their moons aren't good places for life to originate, and if those places had no such good places, then there shouldn't be any life in the extreme places. Maybe space-borne life landed there and adapted, or maybe extreme environments are conducive to the origination of life, but until we know that, I don't think our extremophiles tell us what a lot of people seem to think they tell us.

[Jacob Blakey]

AAA2TY:

I love people who want to write everything and share nothing. I love this website and all of its articles. But unless AAA2TY shows images of anything he is talking about or at least one link to a profile, what does he/she expect.

I would love it if you had pictures so we could tell people to F off but untill you show proof what can the rest of us do?

[toots]

Wow, get back on your medication dude.