A research study has discovered microbial life deep under Chiles Atacama Desert, suggesting that similar subsurface environments on Mars could likewise harbor life, supported by products like plaster. Yungay Playa with typical dry cracks. Credit: Lucas Horstmann, GFZ-PotsdamIn a finding with ramifications for the look for extraterrestrial life, researchers have actually revealed microbial life 13 feet underneath the surface area of the Atacama Desert, Earths a lot of inhospitable desert. The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is the driest hot desert worldwide. Higher life forms are almost entirely absent, however the hyper-arid soil, abundant in sulfates and salts, does harbor bacteria.The initially 80 centimeters of soil is thought to be a possible sanctuary from extreme UV light, a place where some water may be found. But what of much deeper horizons? Dirk Wagner and associates looked for to extend understanding of the deserts biota to the deep subsurface world. The authors dug more than four meters down in a playa of the Yungay Valley to collect soil samples.The upper part of the sampled soil profile. Credit: D. Wagner, GFZThe authors developed a novel extraction method to ensure that the sampled DNA was from living organisms. Loose DNA was very first rinsed, then DNA inside intact cells was drawn out for sequencing. In the upper 80 cm of playa sediments, microbial neighborhoods were controlled by Firmicutes. Listed below 200 cm, a different microbial community was discovered, dominated by Actinobacteria.Some bacteria revealed genetic resemblance to Geodermatophilus pulveris and Modestobacter caceresii. The authors suggest that this neighborhood may have colonized the soil 19,000 years back, before being buried by playa deposits, and assume that the community might continue downwards for an indefinite distance, representing a previously unidentified deep biosphere under hyper-arid desert soils.Study website in the Yungay-Playa: The excavated profile pit and the laboratory trolley of the University of Antofagasta. Credit: L. Horstmann, GFZThe deep bacterial community perhaps relies on plaster for water. The authors note that Mars also has plaster deposits, which might theoretically function as a source of water for microbial life.Reference: “Persistent microbial neighborhoods in hyperarid subsurface habitats of the Atacama Desert: Insights from intracellular DNA analysis” by Lucas Horstmann, Daniel Lipus, Alexander Bartholomäus, Felix Arens, Alessandro Airo, Lars Ganzert, Pedro Zamorano, Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Dirk Wagner, 23 April 2024, PNAS Nexus.DOI: 10.1093/ pnasnexus/pgae123.