Thursday, December 2, 2010

Question - 577


What amazing discovery?

Answer: The sensational, and now disputed, discovery of microbes in Mono Lake, CA, that switched Phosphorus for Arsenic in their DNA. matti tapaninen, NJ, Jaggi, Dhruv, AJ, mekie, IamAlwaysDemethylated, Dinesh, Mihir, Divya Shankar, and Hari got it. Nicely done.

11 comments:

matti tapaninen said...

Lake Mono. A bacteria was found which is capable of incorporating the usually poisonous element arsenic.[

NJ said...

bacterium GFAJ-1 (found in Mono Lake, CA ?)that uses Arsenate ion in DNA in place of Phosphate

Jaggi said...

Lake Mono : Bacteria found here is capable of using Arsenic instead of Phosphorus

Dhruv said...

Mono Lake in California which is arsenic rich - - and microbes in it thrive by getting their energy from arsenic.

AJ said...

NASA recent revelation that one of the bacteria can use Arsenic instead of Phosphorus into its DNA.

mekie said...

Mono lake, CA -- A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus

IamAlwaysDemethylated said...

Arsenic DNA, that NASA found in some cool bacteria in Mono Lake, CA

Dinesh said...

Arsenic based life forms in mono lake, CA. Further confirmation that Californians aren't quite the same as the rest of humankind.

Mihir said...

the bacterium from mono lake (top picture), california, that was able to survive high arsenic concentrations, substituting Arsenic for Phosphorus (hence the bottom picture), thus putting into question the long held belief about 6 elements essential for life

Divya Shankar said...

Mono Lake in US in picture above, below is pic of ribosomal RNA sequence of GFAJ-1 bacterium that was isolated from the banks of this Mono lake.This baterium, an extermophile can not only thrive but also use high levels of Arsenic in the lake to continue growing - a discovery that leads to exploration of extra terrestrial life on Earth itself.

Hari said...

Recently discovered bacteria that thrives on arsenic and not phosphorus