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chemoleo
Biochemicus Energeticus
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Panache, this is certainly interesting.
However, the solution containing dextrose makes it amenable to growth to all sorts of things, regardless the toxic ions that might be present (at
undefined concentrations?).
| Quote: | | How does one identify a mould? |
Well like you said, take a small sample of the mold and inoculate more of the same same solution. It should grow.
There are more involved biochemical and genetic methods but this should be the simplest test. Did you try?
To eliminate that it is bacterial growth, addition of an antibiotic such as penicillin, amoxycillin, chloroamphenicol, tetracyclin, etc etc should
kill bacterial growth, while leaving fungal growth unimpeded. Mind though that even fungal growth is slowed by these antibiotics.
To identify the species of mold, a quick PCR and sequencing of a key gene should be sufficient. Send me a sample  Since you are likely to not have these facilities, there are books on the
morphologies of fungi which I've seen once upon a time (sadly I can't help you there further, I'd be much interested), and these books show the
macroscopic and microscopic properties (in pictures) of these fungi. From what I remember, the morphology of the 'fruiting bodies' (spores) are
crucial to the identification thereof.
[Edited on 4-10-2008 by chemoleo]
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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Panache
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Mood: Instead of being my deliverance, she had a resemblance to a Kat named Frankenstein
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oh my, the new 'batch' of mould is going nuts, i had forgotten about it (it was sitting above my frigde in the warmth and i only rememberred it
because i need some clamps i had used on it. the new sample was in a very very caustic silver solution with like 20% dextrose added. there is
definitely a quaternary stucture to the mould, i thought it was going to bite me.
photos tomorrow.
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UnintentionalChaos
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I had a sheet of green-gray something or other grow over the surface of the water in a bucket of heavy metal waste I had lying around. It was a while
back, but copper, lead, nickel, and manganese (probably as MnO2) were all present is decent amounts. IIRC there was also a good deal of nitrate and
chloride floating around. I believe some sucrose ended up in there at one point, which would help explain how anything could possibly live in there. I
had a mixture of glycerol and water with @20% iPrOH grow some sort of fungus too, which was very surprising, since there were absolutely no other
nutrients present, and it was in a sealed jar.
Department of Redundancy Department - Now with paperwork!
'In organic synthesis, we call decomposition products "crap", however this is not a IUPAC approved nomenclature.' -Nicodem
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unionised
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| Quote: | Originally posted by UnintentionalChaos
I I had a mixture of glycerol and water with @20% iPrOH grow some sort of fungus too, which was very surprising, since there were absolutely no other
nutrients present. |
Oh yes there were.
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Panache
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i am waiting for my data cable for my new phone which has the photos on it. I also forgot that i added several large shakes of Diammonium phosphate to
my brew. There appear to be three types of mould, they are really disturbing, to ease my mind about them i have named them George Bush, Dick Cheney
and John Howard.(sorry political comment, lol)
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oslox241
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiotrophic_fungus
Black molds growing inside Chernobyl and like that uranium mine organism (going to have to try and track that one down) appears to be utilizing gamma
radiation for production of chemical energy. Curious if these are the same molds that were reported to be growing on the MIR space station prior to
its destruction.
Then we have some of the crazy thermophilic endospore formers... Alicyclobacillus acidocaldarius with 10% of spores remaining viable following heat
treatment at 140°C for 15 minutes and a D-value of 4 hours at 120°C.
Bunch of good ones out there. What ever happened with that mold?
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BaSnilek
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Destilled water
When I worked at the Department of bioingeneering in VSCHT Prague, I observed algi or Cyanobacteria growing in sealed bottle of distilled water.
Colleague ensured me that they have been growing there for several yaers. Now thats mystery. How could possibly grow anything in distilled water?
My first post :-)
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hissingnoise
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This would seem to say more about the impurities present in the distilled water that it does about the lifeforms growing in it. . .
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franklyn
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Extremophiles is the general term applied to the taxonomy of micro-organisms
that thrive in what is for most , hostile environmental circumstances. There does
not seem to be any inconceivable habitat for these highly specialized species.
There are carpets of bacterial growths at the bottom of frozen surfaced , ice
cold ponds and lakes in otherwise dry valleys in Antarctica which receive virtually
no light for 10 months a year. There are carpets of bacterial growths in highly
acid mineral water of tropical caves which are forever without light. There are
bacteria which thrive in eternally dark submarine geothermal vents at temperatures
of 250 ºC. After the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in the Pacific Northwest the
first inhabitants of the remaining moonscape were bacterial growths in the
mineral water runoff. We know cyano bacteria such as botulism can exist inside
sealed cans. Bacteria can metabolize or affect decomposition of most anything
even petroleum , and produce alcohol and nitrates and other confounding things
Rocket fuel from thin air ( Perchlorate )
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spacedocumentary/story/0,2763,3497...
same story _
http://www.reactivereports.com/10/10_4.html
Reference given:
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2000, 39, 2509.
Bacteria Eat Human Sewage, Produce Rocket Fuel ( Hydrazine )
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1109_051109_...
http://www.jgi.doe.gov/sequencing/why/99199.html
above citations found in this thread _
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=10976#...
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majortom
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I know that some extreamophiles use arsenic instead of sulfur in one of their emzynes, heard the same about thallium. some say that we could use
arsenic instead of phosphorous in a primitive RNA like chain
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JohnWW
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What other element could thallium, which is deadly poisonous, possibly substitute for in a natural biochemical reaction? Its most stable oxidation
state is (I), in which it can substitute for Ag(I) in a wide range of chemical compounds and reactions, but it is much more electronegative than
alkali metals; while the (III) state is fairly strongly oxidizing. BTW arsenic, besides being highly poisonous (used in insecticides, wood
preservatives, and some rat poisons), is not a satisfactory biochemical substitute for phosphorus(V) (in which it occurs as phosphate in biochemical
reactions) because its (V) state is oxidizing unlike that of phosphorus, with the (III) state being most stable.
[Edited on 7-6-10 by JohnWW]
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anotheronebitesthedust
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With bacteria surviving these extreme conditions here on Earth it's hard to imagine that Mars is lifeless. I read somewhere that bacteria almost
definitely would have contaminated the Mars rover expeditions. I hope something survived the trip.
Fossilized bacteria were found in a Martian meteorite too:
http://news.discovery.com/space/arctic-bacteria-mars-methane...
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majortom
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Quote: Originally posted by JohnWW  | What other element could thallium, which is deadly poisonous, possibly substitute for in a natural biochemical reaction? Its most stable oxidation
state is (I), in which it can substitute for Ag(I) in a wide range of chemical compounds and reactions, but it is much more electronegative than
alkali metals; while the (III) state is fairly strongly oxidizing. BTW arsenic, besides being highly poisonous (used in insecticides, wood
preservatives, and some rat poisons), is not a satisfactory biochemical substitute for phosphorus(V) (in which it occurs as phosphate in biochemical
reactions) because its (V) state is oxidizing unlike that of phosphorus, with the (III) state being most stable.
[Edited on 7-6-10 by JohnWW] |
Strange oxidation states are known in enzymology.
"Ni-SOD is particularly interesting as it involves nickel(III), an unusual oxidation state for this element."
Toxicity isn't really much of a concern when considering certain low complexity organisms, there have been many enzymes found with very toxic metal
cofactors. Among these are Nickle, Manganese, Chromium and Cadmium. (!?!) I also wouldn't to ingest to much selenium, vandium, tungsten or copper
either. Toxicity does not seem to be a problem for enzymes in lower organisms, I mean jesus christ, Cadmium?
While I incorrectly remembered the heavy elements I mentioned there are plenty of examples of things just as bad.
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franklyn
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The Lost World Found
No Dinosaurs spotted. Pictures are worth a thousand words. wow !
http://www.neatorama.com/spotlight/2010/12/20/the-worlds-big...
http://www.cracktwo.com/2010/12/conquering-infinite-cave.htm...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_Doong_Cave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phong_Nha-Ke_Bang
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franklyn
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http://www.livescience.com/13377-extremophiles-world-weirdes...
This is number 3 - Deinococcus radiodurans bacterium
Radiation Proof
Extreme species prove their mettle by withstanding intense amounts of radiation.
For example , the Deinococcus radiodurans bacterium can survive a 15,000 gray
dose of radiation , where 10 grays would kill a human and it takes over 1,000
grays to kill a cockroach. This species , in fact , is exemplary in many ways ,
encompassing also the ability to survive cold , dehydration , vacuum and acid.
The Guinness Book of World Records lists D. radiodurans as the world's toughest
bacterium.
Endoliths are organisms that live inside rocks or other spots thought impermeable
to life , such as the pores between grains of minerals in the crevices of rock strata.
These species have been found over 2 miles ( 3 km ) below the Earth's surface ,
and may live even deeper. Water is scarce at these depths , but some studies
suggest they feed on surrounding iron , potassium , or sulfur. Understandably
their perspective of the world at large is severely limited. Try as one can to
expand their horizon.
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=6372&a...
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Arcuritech
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Not as extreme as the post above, but interesting examples none the less: https://www.sciencemadness.org/whisper/viewthread.php?tid=21...
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research." -Albert Einstein
"There are few things -- whether in the outward world, or, to a certain depth, in the invisible sphere of thought -- few things hidden from the man
who devotes himself earnestly and unreservedly to the solution of a mystery." -Nathaniel Hawthorne ("Roger Chillingworth")
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