Microbial Morphology and Motility as Biosignatures for Outer Planet Missions
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Nadeau-2016-Microbial Morphology.pdf
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1.03 MB
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Adobe PDF
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Author(s)
Nadeau, Jay
Lindensmith, Chris
Deming, Jody W.
Stocker, Roman
Fernandez, Vicente Ignacio
Date Issued
August 2016
Journal
Astrobiology
Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Citation
Nadeau, Jay; Lindensmith, Chris; Deming, Jody W.; Fernandez, Vicente I. and Stocker, Roman. “Microbial Morphology and Motility as Biosignatures for Outer Planet Missions.” Astrobiology 16, no. 10 (October 2016): 755–774 ©2012 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Meaningful motion is an unambiguous biosignature, but because life in the Solar System is most likely to be microbial, the question is whether such motion may be detected effectively on the micrometer scale. Recent results on microbial motility in various Earth environments have provided insight into the physics and biology that determine whether and how microorganisms as small as bacteria and archaea swim, under which conditions, and at which speeds. These discoveries have not yet been reviewed in an astrobiological context. This paper discusses these findings in the context of Earth analog environments and environments expected to be encountered in the outer Solar System, particularly the jovian and saturnian moons. We also review the imaging technologies capable of recording motility of submicrometer-sized organisms and discuss how an instrument would interface with several types of sample-collection strategies. Key Words: In situ measurement—Biosignatures—Microbiology—Europa—Ice.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2015.1376
