New Studies Say No, Life Can't Live on Arsenic Alone
Arsenic-Loving Bacteria This is a transmission electron micrograph of a strain of proteobacteria that has been exposed to arsenic in place of phosphorus. The bacteria grew much larger with the addition of arsenic and the subtraction of phosphorus, and scientists think the internal vacuole-like structures shown in this image may be responsible for the larger size. Courtesy Science/AAASLast year's finding that "alien" Californian bacteria thrive on arsenic instead of phosphorus contradicted in new papers The fundamental backbone of life is unbending, according to two new studies - a plucky bacterium from a California lake cannot substitute a poisonous substance for phosphorus after all. The results address the question of whether GFAJ-1, as the bacterium is known, is "weird life" with implications for astrobiology. According to these new studies, the answer may be no after all. Two new studies appearing today attempted to recreate a controversial December 2010 study by Felisa Wolfe-Simon and...