[meteorite-list] Australian Researchers Discover Some of the Oldest Forms of Life

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 13:04:04 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200708092004.NAA04335_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/ra-urd080607.php

Public release date: 6-Aug-2007

Contact: Dr. Miryam Glikson
m.glikson at uq.edu.au
61-754-785-557
Research Australia <http://www.researchaustralia.com.au>

UQ researchers discover some of the oldest forms of life

University of Queensland researchers have identified microbial remains
in some of the oldest preserved organic matter on Earth, confirmed to be
3.5 billion years-old.

The UQ team, led by School of Physical Sciences scientists Dr Miryam
Glikson and Associate Professor Sue Golding as well as Associate
Professor Lindsay Sly from the School of Molecular & Microbial Sciences,
are the first to conclusively confirm the nature and source of the
organic material.

Aspects of the research have been published in the prestigious
scientific journal Precambrian Research.

"What we have found is the first visual confirmation of primitive
microbial communities in what is considered to be the best preserved
ancient organic matter on our planet," Dr Glikson, the instigator of the
research, said.

Dr Golding, Director UQ's Stable Isotope Laboratory in the Division of
Earth Sciences, said previous studies used indirect analytical methods
that were only able to suggest microbial involvement, not confirm it.

"We used difficult and time-consuming electron microscope techniques to
conclusively confirm the microbial remains,' Dr Golding said.

"The integration of observational and micro-analytical techniques is
unique to our approach."

The core drilling samples from Western Australia's Pilbara region were
collected by PhD student Lawrie Duck who said it was an amazing
experience to "hold in your hands rocks that contain remains of some of
the earliest forms of life on Earth."

"The Pilbara region is such a good research site as it has ancient forms
of the white smokers active at plate margins today and black sulfidic
smokers found in sea floor vent systems in tectonically active sites,"
he said.

'These are the places where scientists believe life on Earth might have
had its origins."

Dr Glikson said the UQ team had then taken the study further by
comparing the fossil microbial structures to primitive microbes found
today in seafloor environments similar to those existing 3.5 billion
years ago.

"The microbiologists on the team, led by Dr Sly, cultured currently
existing primitive microbes under simulated conditions to those of the
ancient forms of life," Dr Glikson said.

"A remarkable resemblance was found between the structures of the
cultured microbial entities at their stage of disintegration and those
of the ancient microbial remains."

The other members of the UQ research team were Robyn Webb, from the
Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, a specialist in transmission
electron microscopical techniques; Justice Baiano, from the School of
Molecular & Microbial Sciences, who developed special facilities to
culture primitive microbes derived from seafloor mineral-laden hot
springs active at plate margins today; and Kim Baublys, from the Stable
Isotope Laboratory, who undertook analysis of products from the culture
experiments.

A comparison with organic matter from rocks of similar age in South
Africa also yielded microbial remains identical to those from the
Pilbara, further confirming the UQ work. This was achieved with the
collaboration of Dr Axel Hofmann from the University of Kwazulu, South
Africa and Dr Robert Bolhar formerly of the University of Canterbury,
New Zealand.

###

The research was funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery
grant awarded to Dr Glikson and Dr Sly.

Media inquiries: Dr Miryam Glikson (+61 7 5478 5557 or e-mail
m.glikson at uq.edu.au, Associate Professor
Sue Golding (+61 7 3365 1159 or email s.golding at earth.uq.edu.au
or Andrew Dunne at UQ Communications
(+61 7 3365 2802 or + 61 433 364 181). Hi-res images and video footage
of the researchers working in the Pilbara are available by contacting UQ
Photographics (+61 7 3365 2753).


 
Received on Thu 09 Aug 2007 04:04:04 PM PDT