What's Worng With NASA's Arsenic-Eating Bacteria Study?
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 12:27 pm
More on NASA's alleged find...
"In conclusion, sloppy techniques and failure to eliminate all phosphate from the medium leaves open the possibility that GFAJ-1 is just really good at scavenging phosphate from an arsenate containing environment. Since GFAJ-1 grows 3- to 10-fold more slowly in arsenate, it is likely that the bacterium is doing a significant amount of repair activity to fix the problems caused by arsenate incorporation. Some blogs have indicated that arsenate containing DNA is so unstable that NSAS scientists would not be able to isolate intact DNA through the phenol-chloroform extraction procedure the employed, suggesting that the DNA was actually composed of phosphorous and not arsenic. NASA scientists have offered to provide the strain to any other scientist to confirm their data. Regardless of the outcome, the idea that this bacterium is a new form of life that expands the possible forms of carbon life is false. It is clear that GFAJ-1 is an extremeophile that has adapted to living in high salt and high arsenate environments. There is no indication that life could originate under those extreme environmental conditions. This page will be updated when more information is available."
Source: http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/ ... teria.html
"In conclusion, sloppy techniques and failure to eliminate all phosphate from the medium leaves open the possibility that GFAJ-1 is just really good at scavenging phosphate from an arsenate containing environment. Since GFAJ-1 grows 3- to 10-fold more slowly in arsenate, it is likely that the bacterium is doing a significant amount of repair activity to fix the problems caused by arsenate incorporation. Some blogs have indicated that arsenate containing DNA is so unstable that NSAS scientists would not be able to isolate intact DNA through the phenol-chloroform extraction procedure the employed, suggesting that the DNA was actually composed of phosphorous and not arsenic. NASA scientists have offered to provide the strain to any other scientist to confirm their data. Regardless of the outcome, the idea that this bacterium is a new form of life that expands the possible forms of carbon life is false. It is clear that GFAJ-1 is an extremeophile that has adapted to living in high salt and high arsenate environments. There is no indication that life could originate under those extreme environmental conditions. This page will be updated when more information is available."
Source: http://www.godandscience.org/evolution/ ... teria.html
. Still, I guess what he's saying is the bacteria is not actually eating arsenic and is harmed by it much more than they say.