In Argentina, there is a lake found in a remote area in the northwest which is believed to have clues on how life started on Earth and how it could survive on other planets, according to scientists.
With many studies on this lake, researchers have found millions of "super bacteria" living inside Lake Diamante, which contains no oxygen because it is located in the center of a giant volcanic crater over 15,400 feet above sea level.
Lake Diamante, Argentina.
This lake's habitat contains similarities to early Earth, before living/ breathing organisms formed an oxygen-thriving atmosphere for our planet. These conditions of high aresenic and akaline levels may lead to finalized theories about life on extraterrestrial planets.
"This is of great scientific interest as a window to look to our past and also for a science called astrobiology, the study of life on other planets," said Maria Eugenia Farias, part of the team that discovered the life-forms in Lake Diamante earlier this year.
Given the similarities between this lake and Mars, the theory states that the bacteria may also flourish on a planet such as Mars.
Farias said this bacteria, called "polyextremophiles" are known as super bacteria because they can survive and flourish even in the most extreme circumstances.
A polyextremphile bacteria.
"What we have here is a series of extreme conditions all in one place. And this is what makes this place unique in the world," said Farias, a microbiologist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Tucuman province.
The lake contains levels of arsenic 20,000 times higher than safe drinking water and a temperature often below freezing point. However, because the water is so salty (five times saltier than sea water), ice is incapable of forming.
Farias believes that due to the mutation of the bacteria's DNA to survive in UV radiation and low oxygen levels, it could be of interest in the pharmaceuticals industry. It has potential to future commercial applications in products such as sunlotions.
Farias and her team are looking for Argentine funding to produce a metagenome (an advanced study which provides a DNA sequence of the entire microbe colony) of the bacteria. This would allow her team to continue studying the bacteria in Argentina and to keep hold of potential bacteria for new antioxidants or enzymes that can be made from it.
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