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Koeng

Member

Registered: 2012-09-05

Posts: 48

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Radiotrophic fungi

Hey

I was reading some scientific articles and happened to come across this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus

Might be useful for microbial energy production. Since this is all hypothetical, it'd be possible for bacteria to employ a radiation mediated gene activation system (such as phage lambda's). That way, cells would begin to produce the machinery for radiotrophic growth when conditions are suitable. Along with radiation, they could have energy systems that utilize autotrophic mechanisms like iron-oxidizing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidithiob … rrooxidans), normal phototrophic growth, and maybe carbon monoxide uptake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithotroph). Or, alternatively, make a new organism that can inhabit each one.

Personally, I think that bacteria are a better option than lichens realistically, because lichens are very slow growing and you can't modify them quickly or efficiently. The melanin would help protect the bacteria from too much mutation from radiation. So then there are 3 different mechanisms for bacteria to use to get energy.

Anyway, just thought this would be generally interesting. Also on space flights you could use radiation to feed the bacteria.

-Koeng

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Void

Member

Registered: 2011-12-29

Posts: 7,763

Re: Radiotrophic fungi

That's good information, but I would make the point that there is a significant energy source in visible light.

But I wonder if a life form that likes to grow in UV only could be found?  If something likes very hard radiation then why not UV?

Another concern is how adapted is an organism to Mars conditions as far as moisture availibility and also temperature ranges.

Some Antarctic lichens, can motabolize down to -20 degrees C, and can absorb water vapor into themselves from ice, frost and snow therefore perhaps not even requiring liquid water phase external to them.

Still and open mind should be kept on this.

Last edited by Void (2014-07-19 22:01:43)

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knightdepaix

Member

Registered: 2014-07-07

Posts: 239

Re: Radiotrophic fungi

Good information but what is the point of growing bacteria in the first place ? Is it to fix carbon from the carbon dioxide atmosphere to produce soil ? In that case, much nitrogen is needed.

Void

Member

Registered: 2011-12-29

Posts: 7,763

Re: Radiotrophic fungi

Note: I have corrected the lowest temperature for matabolism for Lichen which I had said was 20 degrees Centigrade.  It is -20 degrees Centigrade.

Water ecology depends primarily on micro-organisms as it's base.  Any ice covered bodies of water or later open water habitats might do quite well with micro-organisms, and perhaps later animals.

High Arctic and favored places in Antarctica primarily have lichens and micro-organisms.

The salt pans of the mid latitudes of the southern hemisphere might receive moisture in the form of snow, and also by absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, and they might even be fed water by gravity feed from the south pole.  Those could support microbial mats.

I have been thinking however, that perhaps there might be a solution for some higher plants that have Nitrogen fixing bacteria in their root systems.

If such symbiotic organisms could be altered, perhaps they could make it.  The Nitrogen fixing bacteria would have to work harder to fix Nitrogen for the plants, so they would have to be engineered to be able to do so, but as a consequence they would require a greater gifting from the plants in terms of energy.  So the plants would have to have their role altered so that they did provide more energy and nutrition to the bacteria.  Such plants would not really be able to make it though if the nights were repeatedly colder than perhaps a few degrees below zero.  Those conditions are too cold for the plants, and also that tends to allow freeze-thaw actions that churn the soil and damage the roots.  An atmosphere of 100-1000 mb would not warm Mars enough to make the equator suitable for such plants, unless some greenhouse gasses were employed, super greenhouse gasses.

However at the poles with such an atmospheric pressure, also due to Mars year being almost twice as long, it might be possible that a relatively frost free mid summer season of 60-120 days could occur once each year.  So annual plants might work out.

I do think that it is possible that Nitrogen bearing rock layers might exist below the upper layers of materials ejected from super volcano's as the planet began to freeze and dry up.  On the other hand could those super volcano's have caused an ejection of much of the atmosphere of Mars?

If the layers do exist, it would be quite a task to get the Nitrogen out of them.  Perhaps ground currents could liquify those layers, causing a volcanic process?  But that would require a lot of energy.  Perhaps biology could liberate the Nitrogen, but that would take a lot of time, and I would think organisms created to do that would require that the layers be subjected to fracking, and that energy bearing chemicals would need to be injected.  Perhaps Hydrogen.  They might use the Hydrogen to power their life processes in part, and perhaps break the Nitrogen out of the chemical bondage they were in.

For farming, it should not be that hard to create inflatable domes, and inject extra Nitrogen into them, so that a wider variety of Earth crops could be grown.  This would also help with warding off night freezing in the lower latitudes.

I am not against other methods to be considered for adding Nitrogen to Mars, but I think every form of adapting to what is actually there should be explored and exploited first.

Last edited by Void (2014-07-19 22:25:47)

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