Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

"Al" wrote in message
...
This little blurb arrived in one of my astronomy newsletters called "The
Universe Today" (http://www.universetoday.com/)
and I thought it might be interesting to the flaskers and autoclavers in
this newsgroup:

These Microbes Can Take the Heat
Aug 18, 2003 - Microbes taken from a deep sea vent at the bottom of the
Pacific Ocean can survive in an environment that would kill anything else
on
Earth - they live, and thrive, in water that is 130 degrees Celsius. The
scientists who discovered the microbes, called Strain 121, put the
creature
in an autoclave, which is designed to kill all bacteria; not only did it
survive, but it kept on multiplying in the high heat. The discovery helps
scientists develop new theories of how life could have originated on an
early Earth that was much hotter than it is today.

While interesting for anyone with an interest in living things, it is
probably not of practical import tomost of us. After all, this is a newly
discovered species, as are related species, found in suboceanic vents. As
they thrive in temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees Celcius, it is
unlikely that their natural distribution extends any further than a few tens
of metres from the vents on which they depend. The water at the bottom of
the ocean varies from about 0 up to 4 degrees Celcius (depending on which
ocean), and so there is likely to be a steep temperature gradient from
outrageously hot near the vent to bitterly cold as one moves away from the
vents. It is therefore highly unlikely to be present in any terrestrial
ecosystem we can inhabit, and therefore unlikely to be a contaminant to be
of concern to flaskers and autoclavers. Another relevant consideration is
that their energy metabolism depends on the highly reduced water coming from
the vents (for additional information, do a search on chemosynthesis,
contrasted with photosynthesis), and they use iron where most living things
use oxygen when metabolizing organic material. This means that our
oxidizing, oxygen rich environment is likely to be highly toxic to it.

Interesting stuff though.

Cheers,

Ted

Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

Speak for yourself. You have no idea what kind of terrestrial egosystem I
can inhabit. :-) I didn't mean to suggest we worry about them
contaminating our flasks. I just thought it would be amusing to anyone
preparing agar for flasking to contemplate that there is stuff on this
planet that would actually like to live in an autoclave. But you knew
that. What I was wondering while I read the article, and what it didn't
mention, was how long the microbe would live in "our" environment.

Al
tongue in cheek, foot in mouth, head in clouds, nose in air, mind in gutter
orchids in greenhouse

"Ted Byers" wrote in message
.. .
vents. It is therefore highly unlikely to be present in any terrestrial
ecosystem we can inhabit, and therefore unlikely to be a contaminant to be
of concern to flaskers and autoclavers.

Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

Al,
I also saw that article. It might be a point of concern however when
you consider bacteria like to swap genes BETWEEN SPECIES. I'm more
concerned about the operating theatre than the flasking room. Thing what
that would mean if species 122 (I think that's the number) decides to donate
the genetic material for high temp environments to S. aureus. We would be
in a heap of trouble. Just pointing out that you can't be too careful with
new species of anything! Think of it..."Attack of the Killer Vietnamese
Paphs!!!"
Cec
"Al" wrote in message
...
Speak for yourself. You have no idea what kind of terrestrial egosystem I
can inhabit. :-) I didn't mean to suggest we worry about them
contaminating our flasks. I just thought it would be amusing to anyone
preparing agar for flasking to contemplate that there is stuff on this
planet that would actually like to live in an autoclave. But you knew
that. What I was wondering while I read the article, and what it didn't
mention, was how long the microbe would live in "our" environment.

Al
tongue in cheek, foot in mouth, head in clouds, nose in air, mind in
gutter
orchids in greenhouse

"Ted Byers" wrote in message
.. .
vents. It is therefore highly unlikely to be present in any terrestrial
ecosystem we can inhabit, and therefore unlikely to be a contaminant to
be
of concern to flaskers and autoclavers.

Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

"Al" wrote in message
...
Speak for yourself. You have no idea what kind of terrestrial egosystem I
can inhabit. :-) I didn't mean to suggest we worry about them
contaminating our flasks. I just thought it would be amusing to anyone
preparing agar for flasking to contemplate that there is stuff on this
planet that would actually like to live in an autoclave. But you knew
that.
Of course. :-)

What I was wondering while I read the article, and what it didn't
mention, was how long the microbe would live in "our" environment.

Yes. it seems highly unlikely to me that it could survive in our
environment, but the scientist in me wants to yell at the author for
neglecting to include the obvious information. As a scientist, I'd want to
see the experimental results of tests to determine the lower bound on
temperatures in which it can survive. It may seem a little pedantic, but
sometimes living things surprise us.

Cheers,

Ted

Al
tongue in cheek, foot in mouth, head in clouds, nose in air, mind in
gutter
orchids in greenhouse

:-)

Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

"Cecil Kimber" wrote in message
news:vre0b.184595$Ho3.25707@sccrnsc03...
Al,
I also saw that article. It might be a point of concern however when
you consider bacteria like to swap genes BETWEEN SPECIES. I'm more
concerned about the operating theatre than the flasking room. Thing what
that would mean if species 122 (I think that's the number) decides to
donate
the genetic material for high temp environments to S. aureus. We would be
in a heap of trouble. Just pointing out that you can't be too careful
with
new species of anything! Think of it..."Attack of the Killer Vietnamese
Paphs!!!"
Cec

I hadn't forgotten that. But consider, for bacteria to exchange genes, they
both have to be able to live in the same place at the same time. Therefore,
unless these things surprise us by being able to thrive in a much broader
range of environments, either S. aureus surviving in a vent-like
super-heated chemical soup or the species that normally thrive in such a
hot, to us toxic, soup being able to survive in the kind of environment we
like, or unless there is a virus that can serve as a vector to transfer
genes from one to the other that can survive both environments, such an
exchange is highly unlikely.

What you say about new species, though, brings to mind a news report on the
CBC from Toronto about new findings regarding a large number of patients,
most in nursing homes, that tests demonstrated as having the SARS virus but
who either did not show any symptoms at al or who showed symptoms that would
be considered mild relative to the average common cold. There is a
suspicion now that what was alleged to be a new virus species has actually
been around, and causing mild disease, for a long time. We are talking
hundreds of people who had the virus in Canada who either did not show
symptoms or who showed extremely mild symptoms. It may well be that like
influenza, the SARS virus has multiple strains or races of varying
virulence. Now, if we saw something as nasty as ebola that was as
contagious as the influenza virus, we would be in serious trouble! It may
be just a matter of time....

Cheers,

Ted

Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

Thanks, and once again I have learned something new.
Cheers
PB

Microbes an autoclave won't kill
 

"Al" wrote in message ...
This little blurb arrived in one of my astronomy newsletters called "The
Universe Today" (http://www.universetoday.com/)
and I thought it might be interesting to the flaskers and autoclavers in
this newsgroup:

These Microbes Can Take the Heat
Aug 18, 2003 - Microbes taken from a deep sea vent at the bottom of the
Pacific Ocean can survive in an environment that would kill anything else on
Earth - they live, and thrive, in water that is 130 degrees Celsius. The
scientists who discovered the microbes, called Strain 121, put the creature
in an autoclave, which is designed to kill all bacteria; not only did it
survive, but it kept on multiplying in the high heat. The discovery helps
scientists develop new theories of how life could have originated on an
early Earth that was much hotter than it is today.


There are bacteria and algae that thrive in hot springs.


J. Del Col