Iron-eating Bug Found to Thrive in 121C Heat

shobadobs writes "A story in the Independent reports that a microorganism appropriately referred to as 'Strain 121' has been found capable of thriving, with its colony size doubling, at a heat of 121 degrees Celsius, eight degrees more than the previously recorded maximum temperature that an organism can survive. This deep-sea volcanic vent creature was found on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and it feeds off of iron." Luckily it's only a microorganism. At first glance I thought scientists might have discovered a real-life rust monster.

Comments

Luckily

[sploxx]

> Luckily it's only a microorganism.
Hmm, aren't microorganisms eating iron and surviving in ovens are harder to extinct than some cm long creatures with hands and feet?

Re:Luckily

[Dyolf Knip]

I imagine that the chemical reactions that allow this thing to subsist on iron don't work too well at lower temperatures anyway. Otherwise we'd have seen that particular niche filled here on the surface a _long_ time ago.

Re:Aren't most diseases microorganisms?

[FooBarWidget]

But that doesn't mean most microorganisms are diseases. That Strain 122 will probably die in your body.

Re:What about hot bugs?

[Pharmboy]

I understand that extremophile microbes demonstrate that our conception of a life-supporting environment has heretofore been a little narrow, but recent discoveries keep turning up organisms that live in hot, high-pressure envirtonments, kind of the exact opposite of the conditions on Mars.

Not to mention (or rather TO mention) the fact that the majority of the surface of Mars suffers from terrible temperature swings, and we haven't seen many organisms that can handle temperature swings very well, except some viruses, and most viruses need other organisms as hosts.

Re:Depth vs. Temperature?

[Ubi_NL]

Almost certainly. Metabolic processes (enzymes) have a narrow active temperature range. My guess is anything below 80 degC will slow them down so much that they won't multiply anymore. They probably won't die either, just slow down

joris