Researchers creating "hell cell" that can survive in Mars: ¿Rebiogenesis on the verge?
Por: Luis Alberto Hara - 08/08/2012
Moving in the direction of space colonization, researchers begin to play with genes to create life that can resist the hellish conditions of Mars, and perhaps later thrive.
Mars is of course the coldspot of our future civilization (or at least of our bizarre sci-fi vacations). Although Mars could have harbored life in the past (conspiracy people believe that our DNA got weaved in the olden Martian planes) and may even still host microorganisms, it is not a particularly life-friendly place. Exploration of Mars is part of NASA's long-term plan, and the idea to form a colony on the red planet is not far behind. Terraforming Mars has somewhere on the agenda not only transforming the atmosphere or the soil of the planet, but also engineering food and animals that can live a life of their own and perhaps follow a new bio-timeline.
A team of undergraduate students in Brown and Stanford universities have begun a synthetic biology project to acclerate human colonization and create the resources for this to happen. One of the first steps is creating a resistant bacteria that can survive the cold and the lack of atmosphere as we know it. It seems that what really fuels these kind of projects is creating a really cool name. With "hell cell" coined, then we can go on withe science. Writes Wired:
The project is part of the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) challenge, an annual synthetic biology competition that pits students around the world against each other in attempts to ingeniously hack living cells to perform new tasks. In a regional iGEM meet in October, Geilich’s team will present what they call a Hell Cell, a suite of genetically engineered parts that could enable a bacterium to withstand severe cold, dryness and radiation. Geilich calls it “a genetic box of crayons for extremophile conditions.
The Hell Cell includes genetic modules, or BioBricks, based on DNA from a variety of ultra-tough organisms, including a cold-resistant species of Siberian beetle that makes “antifreeze” proteins, a radiation-resistant bacterium that sequesters large amounts of the element manganese, and E. coli, which produces a nutrient that confers cold and drought resistance. The team is also investigating heat- and acid-tolerance mechanisms that could be useful in other planetary environments.