Mars Life Forms Blueprint Discovered

Canada's Arctic microbes provide insight into Mars-survival microbes. A salty, cold, almost oxygen-free environment exists under the permafrost of Lost Hammer Spring in Canada's High Arctic.

McGill University scientists have discovered previously unknown microbes after extensive searching under extremely difficult conditions. Genomic techniques have also provided insight into their metabolisms.

Researchers in The ISME Journal demonstrate for the first time that microbial communities living in Canada's High Arctic can survive by eating and breathing simple inorganic compounds similar to those found on Mars.

One of Canada's saltiest and coldest terrestrial springs is Lost Hammer Spring in Nunavut. Water that rises through 600 meters (2000 feet) of permafrost is extremely salty (*24% salinity), subzero (*5 °C/23 °F), and almost oxygen-free (<1ppm dissolved oxygen).

There are widespread salt deposits on Mars, and there may be cold salt springs there as well. This is one of the very few studies to find microbes alive and active in a Mars-like environment

Scientists used state-of-the-art genomic tools and single-cell microbiology methods to identify and characterize an active microbial community in this unique spring to gain insight into possible life on Mars.

Extreme conditions require an unusual life form Elisse Magnuson, a Ph.D. student in Whyte's lab and the first author of the paper, says it took two years to detect active microbial communities in sediment.

DNA from the spring community was isolated and sequenced, resulting in the reconstruction of genomes of approximately 110 microorganisms. The genomes of these creatures have offered clues about how they survived and thrived in such extreme conditions, acting as blueprints for future life forms.

Life without organic material Unlike other microorganisms, Lost Hammer Spring microbes don't require oxygen or organic matter to live, says Whyte. Methane, sulfides, sulfate, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, all of which are found on Mars, allow them to survive.

To better understand why and how these microbial communities are flourishing in the cold, salty muck of the Lost Hammer Spring, we intend to culture and further characterize their abundance and activity.