Ryugu Asteroid Sample Rapidly Colonized By Terrestrial Life (phys.org) 18
Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from Phys.org: Researchers from Imperial College London have discovered that a space-returned sample from asteroid Ryugu was rapidly colonized by terrestrial microorganisms, even under stringent contamination control measures. In the study, [...] researchers analyzed sample A0180, a tiny (1 x 0.8 mm) particle collected by the JAXA Hayabusa 2 mission from asteroid Ryugu.
Transported to Earth in a hermetically sealed chamber, the sample was opened in nitrogen in a class 10,000 clean room to prevent contamination. Individual particles were picked with sterilized tools and stored under nitrogen in airtight containers. Before analysis, the sample underwent Nano-X-ray computed tomography and was embedded in an epoxy resin block for scanning electron microscopy. Rods and filaments of organic matter, interpreted as filamentous microorganisms, were observed on the sample's surface. Variations in size and morphology of these structures resembled known terrestrial microbes. Observations showed that the abundance of these filaments changed over time, suggesting the growth and decline of a prokaryote population with a generation time of 5.2 days.
Population statistics indicate that the microorganisms originated from terrestrial contamination during the sample preparation stage rather than being indigenous to the asteroid. Results of the study determined that terrestrial biota had rapidly colonized the extraterrestrial material, even under strict contamination control. Researchers recommend enhanced contamination control procedures for future sample-return missions to prevent microbial colonization and ensure the integrity of extraterrestrial samples. Another factor in gathering contamination-free sampling is that everything used to collect extraterrestrial material originates on a planet awash in microbial life.
Transported to Earth in a hermetically sealed chamber, the sample was opened in nitrogen in a class 10,000 clean room to prevent contamination. Individual particles were picked with sterilized tools and stored under nitrogen in airtight containers. Before analysis, the sample underwent Nano-X-ray computed tomography and was embedded in an epoxy resin block for scanning electron microscopy. Rods and filaments of organic matter, interpreted as filamentous microorganisms, were observed on the sample's surface. Variations in size and morphology of these structures resembled known terrestrial microbes. Observations showed that the abundance of these filaments changed over time, suggesting the growth and decline of a prokaryote population with a generation time of 5.2 days.
Population statistics indicate that the microorganisms originated from terrestrial contamination during the sample preparation stage rather than being indigenous to the asteroid. Results of the study determined that terrestrial biota had rapidly colonized the extraterrestrial material, even under strict contamination control. Researchers recommend enhanced contamination control procedures for future sample-return missions to prevent microbial colonization and ensure the integrity of extraterrestrial samples. Another factor in gathering contamination-free sampling is that everything used to collect extraterrestrial material originates on a planet awash in microbial life.
If microbes made it to the sample does that mean.. (Score:1)
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Not unlikely any microbe that would naturally evolve from outside of this solar system would exhibit such a degree of compatibility with anything alive on this planet... but otherwise.. I guess it would theoretically be possible. However, there are labs in this world working with highly infective and devastatingly ill-making earth-borne microbes. And as long as all protocols are followed correctly, they seem to hold up, until now.... at least, we're still here, aren't we?
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I agree. Any microbes that exist on the asteroid are going to be evolved to survive the asteroid environment. IE lack of atmosphere, radiation, the materials present, etc...
Odds are they'd be poisoned by free oxygen, not have any metabolic paths for carbon, etc... The very environment of earth would be hostile to them.
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Asking that implies that, contrary to what you're expected to believe, labs cannot leak. Lab leaks are a metaphysical impossibility that only uneducated Nazis deny. Especially if they're Chinese labs.
This has all been made perfectly clear to you. Stop spreading misinformation.
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Dr. Ian Malcolm said it (Score:4, Funny)
Life...uh...finds a way
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Space? (Score:5, Interesting)
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It also brings into question efforts to decontaminate our probes. It's possible we have already contaminated other worlds with Earth microbes.
Earth Life.. (Score:3)
is(are) clearly an invasive lifeform(s).
Spores (Score:2)
It does seem like a nitrogen atmosphere in a clean room and sterilized utensils would be an adequate defense against contamination but bacterial spores are "extremely stable and can survive for very long time to the absence of water and nutrients, to the presence of lytic enzymes, toxic chemicals, UV irradiation and to extremes of temperature and pH".
https://www.sciencedirect.com/... [sciencedirect.com]
I'm curious to know what "enhanced contamination control procedures" they would use in the future. Presumably they would want
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The space probe that collected the sample wasn't so carefully cleansed. So the sample may have been contaminated in space, from the probe and the little buggers woke up once they got to the comfy lab back on earth. The final sentence of TFS says this indirectly.
It sounds like a hard engineering problem. I'd love to work on that.
Contamination with strict controls, you say? (Score:1)
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It's very, very hard to prevent microbe contamination on Earth. Heck, even the ISS is contaminated. Microbes are very good at getting everywhere.