ADAPTED BACTERIA

Many questions were finally cleared yesterday (NASA meeting), about the discovery of a variant of extremophile bacteria that eat arsenic (As): 1) They are not alien bacteria, they are adapted bacteria over the years to its peculiar environment 2) These bacteria like potatoes are 60% larger than similar 3) The interior of the cell has many gaps 4) Arsenic is not toxic to them 5) They incorporate As to their DNA, proteins and phospholipids 6) If these bacteria were given to choice between As and P, surely they would prefer the P (as evidenced by several experiments). So, it seems that P as a constituent of our DNA, is ideal, at least on Earth. But we do not know if potential substitutes for P (Si, S, Se, Te), would be the preferred constituents of bacterial DNA on planets different than ours.

BACTERIAS ADAPTADAS

Finalmente fueron aclaradas ayer (NASA meeting), muchas preguntas respecto al hallazgo de una variante de bacterias extremófilas que se alimentan de Arsénico (As): 1) No son bacterias extraterrestres, son terrestres adaptadas en el curso de los años a su peculiar medio ambiente 2) Estas bacterias que semejan patatas, son 60% más grandes que sus similares 3) El interior de las células tiene muchos espacios vacíos 4) El As, no es tóxica para ellas 5) Incorporan As a su DNA, proteínas y fosfolípidos 6) Si a estas bacterias les dieran a escoger entre As y P, con seguridad preferirían el P (así lo demuestras varios experimentos). Parece entonces que el P como constituyente de nuestro DNA, es ideal, al menos en la Tierra. Lo que no sabemos es si los potenciales sustitutos del P (Si, S, Se, Te), serian los constituyentes preferidos del DNA bacteriano en planetas diferentes al nuestro.