Whose Planet Is This, Anyway? Elio Schaechter Dr. Saier ’ s Class Sept. 28, 2011 Google Blog
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Transcript of Whose Planet Is This, Anyway? Elio Schaechter Dr. Saier ’ s Class Sept. 28, 2011 Google Blog
Whose Planet Is This, Anyway?
Elio Schaechter
Dr. Saier’s ClassSept. 28, 2011
Google Blog “Small Things Considered”
Microbes:
•Are the source of all other life forms•Are much more diverse than plants and
animals •Are enormously abundant,
about 50% of the total biomass•Grow in virtually everywhere on earth
where there is liquid water
Number of People on Earth:6.5 followed by 8 zeroes
6,500,000,000
Number of Bacteria On Earth:about 10 followed by 30 zeroes
10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
There are about 3 Tons of Bacteria for Every Human Being on Earth!
The elephant’s weight is that of the bacteria per human being
What would happen if all microbes on Earth went on strike?
•Plants would run out of usable nitrogen in about one week
•Plants would run out of CO2 in about a year
•We’d start to run out of food in less than a year
•We’d gradually lose the oxygen in the air
•Our climate would change drastically (in ways difficult to predict)
The White Cliffs of Dover
Microbial mats the size of Alabama
How to study this: begin at a deep hole in the ground, such as a gold mine several kilometers deep. Drill for water, discard the first few day’s flow.
Find ~ 3-4 104 bact/ml. Oxidize H, reduce sulfate
Desulfotomaculum predomintes (10% of spores survive 15 min at 140° C)
Li-Hung Lin et al (Int’l consortium). Science, 2006
In 1998, Thomas Gold, wrote a highly influential book, The Deep Hot Biosphere. •there is abundant microbial life in the water within the pores, cracks and fissures of the rocks beneath our feet.• hydrocarbons were not derived from fossils but rather were created early in the life of the planet by chemical and physical processes below the crust, including radiation.
Single cells in populations
– substrate tracking autoradiography fluorescence in situ hybridization (STARFISH) simultaneously detects specific cell types via 16S rRNA probe and activity via microautoradiography
Single cells in isolation– •nano-cell biology
ultrahigh resolution fluorescence microscopy + quantum dots, electro cryo-tomography, Raman spectroscopy + metallic nanoparticle-FRET•single cell genome sequencing
Short Break
Microbes Influence
the Weather
Todd JD et al. Science 2007
Everybody is always talking about the weather
DMSP=dimethylsulfoniopropionate
Negative feedback loop: the more DMS is made, the more clouds are formed, the less sunlight shines on the ocean, the less photosynthesis is carried out,the less DMSP is made, the less DMS is produced, etc.
Extremophiles
Bacteria Of Boiling Hot Springs In Yellowstone National Park
Photosynthetic bacteria and
lichens in Antarctic sandstone
Algae in silica granule from Yellowstone (pH 1.0)
The reactor at Chernobyl
The “Chernobyl mold”
This fungus grows better with radiation
SYMBIOSES
Red:archaea (CH4 + 2 H2O CO2 + 4 H2) Green; bacteria (5 H2 + SO4
2- H2S + 4 H2O)
Prokaryotic symbiosis
Deep sea
Hydrothermal
vents
• BIOFILMS
• VIRUSES
Forest Rohwer
this is equivalent in weight to 75 million blue whales!
Curtis A. Suttle
wow!
One teaspoonful of ocean water contains about one
million bacteria
The total amounts to the weight of about 100 million
Blue Whales!
Thanks for Listening