The Case for Microbial

Life on Mars
 Overview
1. Timeline
2. Is life possible on Mars?
3. The Martian Environment
4. Introducing … the Extremophiles
5. Importance
 Timeline
• 1609 – Galileo
• first to telescopically view Mars

Galileo
• 1781 – William Herschel (British)
• claims that Martian polar caps made of ice
• 1784 to British Royal Society: Mars has a considerable but
modest atmosphere, so that its inhabitants probably enjoy a situation in
many respects similar to our own.

• 1854 – William Whewell Herschel

• posits that Mars may harbor life

• 1877 – Giovanni Schiaparelli (Italian)

• observation of canali

• 1895 – Percival Lowell (American)

• claims canals were made by ancient civilization (Mars)

W.O.T.W. • 1897 – H.G. Wells

• writes The War of the Worlds
Lowell
Timeline – The Modern Age
• 1938 - Orson Welles
• Mercury Theater on the Air

• 1965 – Mariner 4
• flyby of Mars reveals atmosphere

• 1976 – Viking 1
Welles
• 1976 – Viking 2 Mariner 4

• 1997 – Mars Global Surveyor

• 1997 – Mars Pathfinder
• 2001 – Odyssey
• 2004 – Spirit (Mars Exploration Rover A)
• 2004 – Opportunity (Mars Exploration Rover B)
• 2006 – Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• 2008 – Phoenix Mars Lander (Scout Program)
• Search for environments suitable for microbial life
 Viking Program
• Mariner missions (refocus search for life)
• Viking (Lander & Orbiter)
• Viking 1 (1976-1982)
• Viking 2 (1976-1980)
• Biological Experiments
• Martian soil
• GC◦MS
• GEx (Gas Exchange) The Mars Viking Lander
• LR (Labeled Release)
• PR (Pyrolytic Release)
• Orbiter
• Surface imaging
Viking Orbiter
Viking Program & Martian Life
Assumptions about “Martians”

• Photosynthetic
– Light & CO2
– Respiration
• Surface
– < 5cm depth
• Earth-like

Ciccarelli et al. 2006. Science. 311: 1283

Viking Biological Experiments
• Pyrolytic Release Experiment
• Production of organics from CO2
• Not reproducible
• Labeled Release Experiment
• Rapid release of CO2 in presence of nutrient solution
• Followed by a prolonged, slow release
• 160°C loss of activity
• 40-60°C partial loss of activity
• 18°C relatively stable (lost during long term storage)
• Gas Exchange
• Soil release of O2 in presence of water
• Evolution of CO2 in presence of nutrient solution
• GC◦MS
• Negative for organic compounds
• WTF???
• Orbiter
• “clear evidence that liquid water flowed on the surface
of Mars in the past” (McKay, 1996)
 Phoenix Mars Lander
• Search for microbial life
• “Follow the water”
• 07/31/08 - Presence of water confirmed
• Wet Chemistry
• Soil pH 8 to 9
• Mg, Na, K, Cl present
• Carbonate identified (water interactions)
• Perchlorate also identified
• Detected atmospheric snow
The Martian Environment
Mars Earth
Ionizing Radiation / hour ~10 REM negligible

Length of Day 24h 37m 23h 56m

Gravity 0.377g 1.0g

Atmosphere 95% CO2 78.1% N2

2.7% N2 20.9% O2
0.1% O2 0.03% CO2

Pressure 560 Pa 105 Pa

Avg. Surface Temp -65°C 15°C

Diurnal Temp. Range -89°C to -31°C 10°C to 20°C

Horneck, G. 2008. Acta Astronautica 63:1015-24
Is Life Feasible on Mars?

Meteorite fragment ALH 84001 Streptococcus

~20-100 nanometers ~600 nanometers

 The Extremophiles
Organisms that thrive in, and may even
require, environmental conditions (physical
and/or geochemically extreme) that are
detrimental to the majority of life on Earth.
Examples:
Acidophiles – pH conditions under 3
Alkaliphiles – pH conditions over 9
Halophiles – Salt (NaCl) concentrations over 2M
Psychrophiles – Temperatures under 15°C
Radioresistant – Ionizing Radiation
Thermophiles – Temperatures over 60°C
Xerophiles – Arid conditions (desiccation)
 The Xerophiles
• Greek - xeros (dry) + philos (love)
• Low water availability (water activity)
• Arid conditions Deinococcus
radiodurans
• deserts
• ~1/3 of Earth’s surface
• includes Antarctica

Cacti (a xerophile)
 The Halophiles
• Greek – halo (salt) + philos (love)

• Domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya

• 2M salt concentration
• Molarity of seawater ~0.5M

• Modes of Action:
• Osmoprotectants “compatible solutes”
• Potassium influx
• Forces water towards proteins

• Dead Sea Great Salt Lake

Halophilic Bloom
• Great Salt Lake
 The Halophiles (con’t)
• Halobacterium salinarum (4 to 5.5M [salt])
• Archaea
• Two strains sequenced
• NRC-1
• R1
• Halocins
• Antimicrobial peptides/proteins
• Astrobiology candidate?
• Form a salt crust
• ↓ UV sensitivity
Halobacterium sp. NRC-1
 The Psychrophiles
• Greek – psychro (cold) + philos (love)
• Obligate (20 °C and lower)
• Facultative (growth down to ~ 0 °C)
• Virtually Ubiquitous
• Alpine & arctic soils
• Antarctica (-20 °C mean)
• Deep Ocean
• Glaciers & snowfields Desulfofrigus oceanense
• permafrost
 Psychrophiles (con’t)
• Modes of Action
• Cryoprotectants (antifreeze)
• Cellular adaptations (proteins, fatty acids)
• Cold sensing Æ gene expression
• Cold shock
• Exopolymers
• Primarily polysaccharides
• Growth rate
 The Alkaliphiles
• Alkaline environments
– pH > 9 (through 11)
• Mode of Action
• Maintain pH of ~8 inside cells (proton pumps)
• Playa lakes, carbonate rich soils
• Examples
• Geoalkalibacter ferrihydriticus
• Bacillus okhensis
• Alkalibacterium iburiense
The Alkaliphiles (con’t)
• Carbonate environments
• Examples
• Mono Lake
• Octopus Spring (YNP)

“Tufa Towers” at Mono Lake

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd
Radioresistance
Short Term Dosages (Humans)
0-5 REM – Safe
50-100 REM – Anemia
100-200 REM – Nausea & fatigue
300-500 REM – LD50
500-1200 REM – Death in days
>10,000 REM – Death in hours

Deinococcus radiodurans
Lethal dose (37%) -15,000,000 REM
 Radioresistance (con’t)
• Other radioresistant bacteria
• Thermococcus gammatolerans
• Rubrobacter sp.
• Chroococcidiopsis sp.
• Modes of Action Rubrobacter
• Multiple genome copies
• Rapid DNA repair systems
• Mn accumulation (?)
• Why?
• Most likely to survive desiccation from
arid environments (see Xerophiles)
So … where’s Waldo?
• Surface conditions too harsh
• Confirmed by Viking and Mars Lander
• “Martian oases”
• Sub-surface is best bet
• How deep? 50 cm, 1 m, 2 m, deeper?
• 1 meter
• dramatic drop (60-97%) in cosmic radiation
• Presence of liquid water (?)
• Lower temperature fluctuations (?)
• Geothermal activity (?)
Why Does It Matter?
• Contamination of Mars
• “Forward-contamination”
• COSPAR
• Committee on Space Research
• Planetary protection concept
• Decontamination of all equipment sent to Mars
• protect any possible Martian life
• Martian microbes?
• harmful to human explorers?
• brought back to Earth? (panspermia)
Forward Contamination
and

Panspermia
Forward-Contamination
Contamination of other planets
with microbes of Earth origin

Panspermia
Contamination of Earth with microbes
of an extraterrestrial origin
 Further Reading
• McKay, C.P. 1997. The Search for Life on Mars. Origins of Life and
Evolution of the Biosphere. 27: 263-89.

• Horneck, G. 2008. The Microbial Case for Mars and its Implication
for Human Expeditions to Mars. Acta Astronautica. 63: 1015-24.

• DasSarma, S. 2006. Extreme Halophiles are Models for

Astrobiology. Microbe. 1: 120-6.

• Klein, H.P., et al. 1976. The Viking Mission Search for Life on Mars.
Nature. 262: 24-27.

• McKay, D.S., et al. 1996. Search for Past Life on Mars: Possible
Relic Biogenic Activity in Martian Meteorite ALH84001. Science.
273: 924-930 .