Lurking in the depths of a California lake, researchers found a bacteria that can thrive on arsenic, an explosive discovery that could expand the search for other life on earth and beyond.
The Nasa-funded study released Thursday redefines what science considers the necessary elements for life, currently viewed as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous and sulphur.
Not only does the bacteria survive on arsenic, it also grows by incorporating the element into its DNA and cell membranes.
“What is new here is arsenic is being used as a building block for the organism,” explained Ariel Anbar, co-author of the study which appears in the online journal Science Express.
“We have had this idea that life requires these six elements with no exceptions and here it turns out, well maybe there is an exception,” he said.
The discovery was made by Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a former postdoctoral scientist in Anbar’s research group at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration.
Nasa’s vague announcement earlier this week of a press conference set the Internet abuzz with speculation. —AFP