subject predicate object context
62332 Creator 34150f2f89a55de66712a0576f106400
62332 Creator 7c9060b8651fa54e11ffd46d3aba6da8
62332 Creator bd12e480200a0e58504d6106bfed3c8a
62332 Creator 0519c7e3d5b481315278655a3c8c63cf
62332 Creator 95f68b10fb49eec7b7d3b7db9817decc
62332 Date 2017
62332 Is Part Of repository
62332 abstract There is evidence that water may currently exist on Mars as brines. The chemistries of these brines will be greatly influenced by the local lithologies, which would, in turn, impact on the organisms that could potentially live within them. We have previously developed four geological simulants for Mars: a global composition, an early and unaltered basaltic composition, a sulfur-rich composition, and a haematite-rich composition. Thermochemical modelling was used to determine the composition of brines associated with the alteration of the simulants under Mars-analog conditions. In this study, we assess whether microbial life would grow in these brines under martian simulated conditions. <br></br><br></br>The organisms used in these growth experiments were selected to represent a broad range of metabolic capabilities with relevance to Mars: They include methanogenic archaea (<i>Methanosarcina soligelidi, Methanobacterium arcticum</i> and <i>Methanothermococcus thermolithotrophicus</i>), as biotic processes are a potential source of methane in the martian atmosphere. Additional organisms were species of iron reducing bacteria (<i>Desulfosporomusa polytropa</i>), due to the presence of iron oxides on Mars and the high amount of Fe<sup>3+</sup> in haematite; iron oxidising bacteria (<i>Acidovorax</i> sp. BoFeN1), due to the high presence of Fe<sup>2+</sup>; and sulphate reducing bacteria (<i>Desulfomicrobium macestii</i>), due to the high sulfur content of Paso Robles. We will present details of the impact of the martian simulants on the growth and metabolism of the selected strains, which gives insight into habitability on early Mars.
62332 authorList authors
62332 presentedAt ext-6407ce4fecc67249e6c35ab5bc067961
62332 status peerReviewed
62332 type AcademicArticle
62332 type Article
62332 label Macey, Michael C. ; Ramkissoon, Nisha K. ; Schwenzer, Susanne P. ; Pearson, Victoria K. and Olsson-Francis, Karen (2017). The impact of martian brine chemistry on the growth of microorganisms. In: 1st British Planetary Science Congress, 3-5 Dec 2017, Glasgow.
62332 label Macey, Michael C. ; Ramkissoon, Nisha K. ; Schwenzer, Susanne P. ; Pearson, Victoria K. and Olsson-Francis, Karen (2017). The impact of martian brine chemistry on the growth of microorganisms. In: 1st British Planetary Science Congress, 3-5 Dec 2017, Glasgow.
62332 Title The impact of martian brine chemistry on the growth of microorganisms
62332 in dataset oro