EAE1011 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Foraminifera, Extremophile, Choanoflagellate
10 Aug 2018
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What is life: replicating organic chemicals = genes. Lower boundary of life: bacteria, viruses, prions. Definition of life: respires & grows, replicates, responds. Simplest (natural) lifeform = mycoplasma genitalium = 525 genes. Simplest man-made lifeform = 437 genes (march 2016) Where on earth do you find life: ho(cid:449) (cid:271)ig is earth"s (cid:271)iosphere, surface, subsurface, atmosphere. Where do you find life: extreme life, oceans: hydrothermal environments, discovered in 1979. In abyssal depths near mid-ocean ridges: oceans: cold methane environments, methane and oil bubbling up from sedimentary layers. Fed on by bacteria, that feed larger animals, like worms. In ice: bacteria and yeasts from 200,000 year old antarctic ice have been revived and have lived happily ever after. In boiling pools: hyperthermophiles love water up to and over boiling point (115 c) In rocks (cid:862)e(cid:374)doliths(cid:863: nearly 2km below the ocean floor. Fossils of microbial life that have colonised cooled basalt. Up to 10km: concept of chemical traces of life:
