Origin of Ion-Pumping Proteins Could Explain How Life Began

A new study indicates how the first cells might have evolved from rocks, water and hot alkaline fluid rich in hydrogen gas spewing out of deep-sea vents, and how they might have escaped their deep sea lairs.

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Ancient Fungi Discovered Deep in Ocean Floor Could Yield New Antibiotics

Scientists have found evidence of fungi thriving far below the floor of the Pacific Ocean, in nutrient-starved sediments more than 100 million years old. This could yield antibiotics to combat the drug-resistant bacteria.

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Antarctic Lake Vida Has a Bounty of Microbial Life

Lake Vida in Antarctica is covered by an ice cap up to 27 meters thick, is six times saltier than sea water, and with an average temperature of −13 °C is one of the coldest aquatic environments on the planet. However, it is teeming with microbial life.

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Deepest Scientific Marine Samples Ever Collected Show Hints of Life

A recent expedition resulted in a new world record for deepest scientific marine drilling, 2,440 meters beneath the seafloor. The Research Vessel Chikyu off the coast of Japan’s Shimokita Peninsula housed the members of the microbiology team that took part in groundbreaking leg of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.

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Biochemical Reactions Act Differently When Subjected to Intracellular Crowding

Biochemical reactions behave differently when subjected to intracellular crowding Image: James Cridland/Flickr

Molecular crowding inside cells is a critical factor that is sometimes overlooked in the lab. Biochemical reactions are drastically different in tighter spaces, resulting in significant physical and chemical consequences.

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Strains of E. Coli Have Been Linked to Cancer in Mice

The DNA-damaging bacterium Escherichia coli that flourishes in the digestive tracts of mice afflicted with inflammatory bowel disease has been linked to cancer. Scientists found that the microbiome plays a part in cancer.

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Number of Microbes Living on Earth Drastically Lower Than Previously Thought

The floor of the ocean is home to 2.9×10²⁹ single-celled organisms but this large number, 10 million trillion microbes for every human on planet Earth, is only 8% of the previous estimate of  35.5×10²⁹. Jens Kallmeyer, a geomicrobiologist and his colleagues at the University of Potsdam in Germany have created the most accurate model of the geographical distribution of microbes in the marine sediment. They published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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