A new kind of microorganism was discovered in the fissure of an active volcano in Antarctica, by a research team from IO-USP (Institute of Oceanography at the University of São Paulo).
The discovery of a new type of archaea, a unicellular similar to a bacteria, may assist in the study of adaptation to life in extreme conditions, in addition to knowing the limits in which organisms can survive.
The IO-USP professor who led the expedition, Amanda Bendia, reports to CNN Brazil that this archaea that lives close to 100 Cº will be: “important for Brazilian science because it expands our understanding of the limits of life in extreme environments.”
Researchers Ana Carolina Butarelli and Francielli Vilela Peres were also part of the study.
The information will be used as a reference in astrobiology studies on the possibility of life outside Earth, in extreme environments and with similar characteristics.
Archaea, which belong to the most primitive living beings on the planet, have been found, until now, only in the deep ocean. Now is the first time that the microorganism has been recorded on the surface of a polar environment.
Archaea are known to have lived for billions of years. Instead of relying on sunlight, they are present in the environment in which they are.
Images of a fumarole from an active Antarctic volcano;
Even so, the microbiologist confesses that field research revealed an unexpected scenario: “I imagined that I would collect several points in a continuous temperature gradient. But as the air temperature is very cold, on top of the fumarole it is 100 degrees, and a few centimeters next to it everything is very cold, because the heat loss is very fast.”
Seeing Brazilian women leading research in this scenario represents more than scientific advancement: it is proof that science carried out in Brazil also produces cutting-edge knowledge in extreme and strategic environments for the future of the planet
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The researchers collected the material in fumaroles, openings in the ground through which hot gases of volcanic origin escape.
From this sample, the team extracted DNA, using genetic analysis tools to reconstruct the microorganism’s genome and identify which characteristics are linked to its survival mode in environments with high temperatures and the presence of toxic gases.
Collections were carried out at points with temperatures between 100 °C, 50 °C and 0 °C, factor that allowed microorganisms to be compared in different conditions. The research leader reported that the new species was only found in the hottest region and in a specific manner.
“This work has a very special meaning for us: it was a study carried out entirely by Brazilian women scientists, showing the strength of the science produced in the country and the importance of female representation in frontier research areas”, adds Amanda Bendia, leader of the expedition.
The was named as Pyroantarcticum pellizariin honor of microbiologist Vivian Pellizari, aOne of the first in Brazil to produce studies of microorganisms that live in extreme conditions.
*Under the supervision of Thiago Félix
