Limits of microbial existence: temperature and pH

A microscopic survey made to detect the presence of bacteria in hot springs of varying temperature and pH characteristics revealed that in neutral and alkaline hot springs bacteria are found at temperatures up to the boiling point of water (92 degrees to 100 degrees C, depending on the altitude). In hot springs of increasing acidity the upper temperature limit at which bacteria are found decreases; at pH 2 to 3 the upper temperature limit is 75 degrees to 80 degrees C. Bacteria have thus been able to evolve with the ability to grow at either high temperature or high acidity, but not at both high temperature and high acidity. These results suggest that there are physicochemical limitations of the environment beyond which life is impossible.     

Life at high temperatures

Water environments with temperatures up to and above boiling are commonly found in association with geothermal activity. At temperatures above 60 degrees C, only bacteria are found. Bacteria with temperature optima over the range 65 degrees to 105 degrees C have been obtained in pure culture and are the object of many research projects. The upper temperature limit for life in liquid water has not yet been defined, but is likely to be somewhere between 110 degrees and 200 degrees C, since amino acids and nucleotides are destroyed at temperatures over 200 degrees C. Because bacteria capable of growth at high temperatures are found in many phylogenetic groups, it is likely that the ability to grow at high temperature had a polyphyletic origin. The macromolecules of these organisms are inherently more stable to heat than those of conventional organisms, but only small changes in sequence can lead to increases in thermostability. Because of their unique properties, thermophilic organisms and their enzymes have many potential biotechnological uses, and extensive research on industrial applications is under way.     

Extending the sub-sea-floor biosphere

Sub-sea-floor sediments may contain two-thirds of Earth's total prokaryotic biomass. However, this has its basis in data extrapolation from ~500-meter to 4-kilometer depths, whereas the deepest documented prokaryotes are from only 842 meters. Here, we provide evidence for low concentrations of living prokaryotic cells in the deepest (1626 meters below the sea floor), oldest (111 million years old), and potentially hottest (~100 degrees C) marine sediments investigated. These Newfoundland margin sediments also have DNA sequences related to thermophilic and/or hyperthermophilic Archaea. These form two unique clusters within Pyrococcus and Thermococcus genera, suggesting unknown, uncultured groups are present in deep, hot, marine sediments (~54 degrees to 100 degrees C). Sequences of anaerobic methane-oxidizing Archaea were also present, suggesting a deep biosphere partly supported by methane. These findings demonstrate that the sub-sea-floor biosphere extends to at least 1600 meters below the sea floor and probably deeper, given an upper temperature limit for prokaryotic life of at least 113 degrees C and increasing thermogenic energy supply with depth.     

Methane production in the interstitial waters of sulfate-depleted marine sediments

Methane in the interstitial waters of anoxic Long Island Sound sediments does not reach appreciable concentrations until about 90 percent of seawater sulfate is removed by sulfate-reducing bacteria. This is in agreement with laboratory studies of anoxic marine sediments sealed in jars, which indicate that methane production does not occur until dissolved sulfate is totally exhausted. Upward diffusion of methane or its production in sulfate-free microenvironments, or both, can explain the observed coexistence of measurable concentrations of methane and sulfate in the upper portions of anoxic sediments.     

Nitrogen fixation at 92 degrees C by a hydrothermal vent archaeon

A methanogenic archaeon isolated from deep-sea hydrothermal vent fluid was found to reduce N(2) to NH(3) at up to 92 degrees C, which is 28 degrees C higher than the current upper temperature limit of biological nitrogen fixation. The 16S ribosomal RNA gene of the hyperthermophilic nitrogen fixer, designated FS406-22, was 99% similar to that of non-nitrogen fixing Methanocaldococcus jannaschii DSM 2661. At its optimal growth temperature of 90 degrees C, FS406-22 incorporated (15)N(2) and expressed nifH messenger RNA. This increase in the temperature limit of nitrogen fixation could reveal a broader range of conditions for life in the subseafloor biosphere and other nitrogen-limited ecosystems than previously estimated.     

X-ray Survey of Centaurus A

An x-ray survey of Centaurus A has given marginal evidence of its x-ray flux. If taken as an upper limit on inverse Compton x-rays generated by scattering interactions between relativistic electrons and cosmological background photons, the observation implies an upper limit of close to 3 degrees K for the background radiation temperature.     

沿海围垦区普通塑料大棚内黄瓜需水量研究

[目的]开展沿海围垦区大棚内黄瓜(Cucumis ativus)需水量试验,对指导大棚内作物种植,发展精准灌溉具有重要的意义。[方法]以20 cm深处土壤含水率的上下限,确定土壤的灌水时间、灌水量。苗期土壤含水率的上下限分别按田间持水率70%～100%、80%～100%控制;开花坐果期、盛果期土壤含水率的上下限分别按田间持水率70%～100%、80%～100%、90%～100%控制。[结果]春、秋两季种植的黄瓜需水量在300 mm左右,秋黄瓜生育期需水量略高于春黄瓜。两者的需水量、需水强度均随着作物生长而增大,盛果期最大,春黄瓜盛果期需水量173.1 mm,需水强度5.09 mm/d;秋黄瓜盛果期需水量156.7 mm,需水强度4.09 mm/d。[结论]秋黄瓜与春黄瓜各生育期的需水强度及需水量差异较大,棚内温度差异是造成春、秋两茬黄瓜需水规律不一致的主要原因。     

Ice nucleation by alcohols arranged in monolayers at the surface of water drops

Monolayers of aliphatic long-chain alcohols induced nucleation of ice at temperatures approaching 0 degrees C, in contrast with water-soluble alcohols, which are effective antifreeze agents. The corresponding fatty acids, or alcohols with bulky hydrophobic groups, induce freezing at temperatures as much as 12 degrees C lower. The freezing point induced by the amphiphilic alcohols was sensitive not only to surface area per molecule but, for the aliphatic series (C(n)H(2n + 1)OH), to chain length and parity. The freezing point for chains with n odd reached an asymptotic temperature of 0 degrees C for an upper value of n = 31; for n even the freezing point reached a plateau of -8 degrees C for n in the upper range of 22 to 30. The higher freezing point induced by the aliphatic alcohols is due to formation of ordered clusters in the uncompressed state as detected by grazing incidence synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements. The diffraction data indicate a close lattice match with the ab layer of hexagonal ice.     

Sex pheromone of the winter moth, a geometrid with unusually low temperature precopulatory responses

The sex pheromone for the winter moth, Operophtera brumata (L.), has been identified as the novel compound (Z,Z,Z)-1,3,6,9-nonadecatetraene. The male moths respond to the pheromone at low temperatures (4 degrees to 15 degrees C) and exhibit an upper response limit that coincides with the lower response limit for other reported moth sex pheromone systems. The pheromone attracted two other geometrid species, O. bruceata (Bruce spanworm) and O. occidentalis.     

Thermophilic ostracod: aquatic metazoan with the highest known temperature tolerance

The upper lethal temperature for an ostracod of the genus Potamocypris collected from a thermal stream ranged from 49 degrees C for incubation of more than 5 hours to 55.75 degrees C for 1-minute incubations. Field collections were held at 35 degrees C for less than 24 hours before experimental incubations. Calculated temperatues for 50 percent mortality for 60, 40, 20, 10, 5, and 1 minute of exposure were 50.44 degrees , 50.96 degrees , 51.43 degrees , 52.03 degrees , 52.77 degrees , and 55.12 degrees C, respectively.     

Superconductivity at 45 k in rb/tl codoped c60 and c60/c70 mixtures

The appearance of superconductivity at relatively high temperatures in alkali metal-doped C(60) fullerene provides the challenge to both understand the nature and origin of the superconductivity and to determine the upper limit of the superconducting transition temperature (T(c)). Towards the latter goal, it is shown that doping with potassium-thallium and rubidium-thallium alloys in the 400 to 430 degrees C temperature range increases the T(c) of C(60)/C(70) mixtures to 25.6 K and above 45 K, respectively. Similar increases in T(c) were also observed upon analogous doping of pure C(60). Partial substitution of potassium with thallium in interstitial sites between C(60) molecules is suggested by larger observed unit cell parameters than for the K(3)C(60) and K(4)C(60) phases. Contrary to previous results for C(60) doped with different alkali metals, such expansion does not alone account for the changes in critical temperature.     

Regulation of oceanic silicon and carbon preservation by temperature control on bacteria

We demonstrated in laboratory experiments that temperature control of marine bacteria action on diatoms strongly influences the coupling of biogenic silica and organic carbon preservation. Low temperature intensified the selective regeneration of organic matter by marine bacteria as the silicon:carbon preservation ratio gradually increased from approximately 1 at 33 degrees C to approximately 6 at -1.8 degrees C. Temperature control of bacteria-mediated selective preservation of silicon versus carbon should help to interpret and model the variable coupling of silicon and carbon sinking fluxes and the spatial patterns of opal accumulation in oceanic systems with different temperature regimes.     

Increased transport of antarctic bottom water in the vema channel during the last ice age

Particle size analyses of surface sediments in the Vema Channel reveal a spatial variation related to the present hydrography. Similar analyses of sediment deposited during the last ice age (18,000 years before the present) indicate a maximum shallowing of the upper limit of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) of about 100 meters, coupled with an increase in velocity, which resulted in an increase in AABW transport.     

枯草芽孢杆菌rocG基因插入失活突变株的构建

枯草芽孢杆菌中有2个编码谷氨酸脱氢酶(GDH)的基因:rocG基因和gudB基因。其中Bacillus subtilis 168菌株的rocG基因编码有活性的GDH,而gudB基因编码没有活性的GDH。敲除168菌株的rocG基因后,gudB基因会自发突变为gudB1基因,后者编码有活性的GDH(gudB1-GDH)。为了研究gudB1-GDH在代谢中的作用及调控机制,构建了pMUTin4-rocG插入突变重组质粒,将其转化至B.subtilis 168,成功获得了1株rocG失活突变株BS-△rocG。对BS-△rocG和野生株的生长情况及GDH酶活进行了比较,发现BS-△rocG生长情况和野生株相当,但其GDH酶活为4.641U/mg蛋白,高于野生株的3.042U/mg蛋白。由此推测BS-△rocG中,gudB可能自发突变为gudB1,从而能够编码有活性的GDH,这一结果为研究枯草芽孢杆菌gudB1-GDH在代谢中的作用及调控机制奠定了基础。     

Genesis of petroleum hydrocarbons in marine sediments

Distribution patterns of isopentane and normal pentane in marine sediments show a reversal in slope at a subsurface temperature of about 90 degrees C. The data indicate that three types of reactions are involved in pentane formation: (i) biological origin at the sediment surface, (ii) low-temperature (< 90 degrees C) chemical reactions yielding predominately secondary carbon structures, and (iii) high-temperature (> 90 degrees C) cracking reactions at great depth yielding predominately straight carbon chains.     

Starch accumulation associated with growth reduction at low temperatures in a tropical plant

Growth of Digitaria decumbens is severely reduced by night temperatures of 10 degrees C or below. Ultra-structure of leaves and chemical analyses show a high starch content in chloroplasts of plants illuminated and kept at a temperature of 30 degrees C. This starch disappears after a period in the dark at 30 degrees C, but it remains if the temperature during the dark period is 10 degrees C. The inhibition or slowing of starch translocation out of chloroplasts appears to account for reduced photo-synthesis and growth at low night temperatures.     

Temperature of an Iron Meteoroid in Space

The solar absorptance and hemispherical emittance of meteoritic iron has been measured from -100 degrees to 300 degrees C for a surface characterized by a 400-grit finish. If it is assumed that 10 percent of the surface is optically black because of holes and cracks, the temperature of an iron meteoroid at the earth's mean distance from the sun would be about 90 degrees C.     

温度对黄斑露尾(虫甲)生长发育及存活的影响

在适宜温度范围内,黄斑露尾(虫甲)的卵期、幼虫期、预蛹期、蛹期及全世代发育速率与温度呈直线相关;成虫产卵前期发育速率与温度呈“S”形曲线关系。卵期、幼虫期、预蛹期、蛹期和成虫产卵前期的发育起点温度和有效积温分别为12.3,10.2,12.1,11.5,17.6℃和19.6,124.9,22.9,81.5,20.2日度;全世代分别为11.8℃和279.6日度。在35℃时,各虫态的生长发育即受抑制,当40,45和50℃时,各虫态100％致死时间分别为48,24和6h;0℃时其幼虫、预蛹、蛹和成虫100％致死时间分别为5,15,0.75和10d.     

An archaeal iron-oxidizing extreme acidophile important in acid mine drainage

A new species of Archaea grows at pH approximately 0.5 and approximately 40 degrees C in slime streamers and attached to pyrite surfaces at a sulfide ore body, Iron Mountain, California. This iron-oxidizing Archaeon is capable of growth at pH 0. This species represents a dominant prokaryote in the environment studied (slimes and sediments) and constituted up to 85% of the microbial community when solution concentrations were high (conductivity of 100 to 160 millisiemens per centimeter). The presence of this and other closely related Thermoplasmales suggests that these acidophiles are important contributors to acid mine drainage and may substantially impact iron and sulfur cycles.     

A search for intergalactic hydrogen in the virgo cluster

A fixed-horn antenna having a beam 10 degrees by 10 degrees , and a switched-load radiometer with traveling-wave-maser preamplifier were used to observe the 21-cm spectrum of the Virgo cluster of galaxies. An upper limit to the antenna temperature is 0.024 degrees K relative to regions outside the cluster with filters whose width is 2 Mc/sec. If the excitation temperature of the intergalactic hydrogen is enough greater than the background continuum radiation so that absorption can be ignored, and if the velocity spectrum is that defined by the galaxies, the density of optically thin neutral hydrogen in the cluster does not exceed that outside of the cluster by an amount that gives 5.6 x 10(12) solar masses in the cluster.