Dark microbiome and extremely low organics in Atacama fossil delta unveil Mars life detection limits

dc.creatorAzua-Bustos, Armando
dc.creatorFairén, Alberto G.
dc.creatorGonzález-Silva, Carlos
dc.creatorPrieto-Ballesteros, Olga
dc.creatorCarrizo, Daniel
dc.creatorSánchez-García, Laura
dc.creatorParro, Victor
dc.creatorFernández-Martínez, Miguel Ángel
dc.creatorEscudero, Cristina
dc.creatorMuñoz-Iglesias, Victoria
dc.creatorFernández-Sampedro, Maite
dc.creatorMolina, Antonio
dc.creatorVilladangos, Miriam García
dc.creatorMoreno-Paz, Mercedes
dc.creatorWierzchos, Jacek
dc.creatorAscaso, Carmen
dc.creatorFornaro, Teresa
dc.creatorBrucato, John Robert
dc.creatorPoggiali, Giovanni
dc.creatorManrique, Jose Antonio
dc.creatorVeneranda, Marco
dc.creatorLópez-Reyes, Guillermo
dc.creatorSanz-Arranz, Aurelio
dc.creatorRull, Fernando
dc.creatorOllila, Ann M.
dc.creatorWiens, Roger C.
dc.creatorReyes-Newell, Adriana
dc.creatorClegg, Samuel M.
dc.creatorMillan, Maëva
dc.creatorJohnson, Sarah Stewart
dc.creatorMcIntosh, Ophélie
dc.creatorSzopa, Cyril
dc.creatorFreissinet, Caroline
dc.creatorSekine, Yasuhito
dc.creatorFukushi, Keisuke
dc.creatorMorida, Koki
dc.creatorInoue, Kosuke
dc.creatorSakuma, Hiroshi
dc.creatorRampe, Elizabeth
dc.date2024-04-10T00:06:50Z
dc.date2024-04-10T00:06:50Z
dc.date2023
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-17T21:14:50Z
dc.date.available2024-07-17T21:14:50Z
dc.identifier10.1038/s41467-023-36172-1
dc.identifier20411723
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12728/10386
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorioslatinoamericanos.uchile.cl/handle/2250/9509753
dc.descriptionIdentifying unequivocal signs of life on Mars is one of the most important objectives for sending missions to the red planet. Here we report Red Stone, a 163-100 My alluvial fan–fan delta that formed under arid conditions in the Atacama Desert, rich in hematite and mudstones containing clays such as vermiculite and smectites, and therefore geologically analogous to Mars. We show that Red Stone samples display an important number of microorganisms with an unusual high rate of phylogenetic indeterminacy, what we refer to as “dark microbiome”, and a mix of biosignatures from extant and ancient microorganisms that can be barely detected with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment. Our analyses by testbed instruments that are on or will be sent to Mars unveil that although the mineralogy of Red Stone matches that detected by ground-based instruments on the red planet, similarly low levels of organics will be hard, if not impossible to detect in Martian rocks depending on the instrument and technique used. Our results stress the importance in returning samples to Earth for conclusively addressing whether life ever existed on Mars. © 2023, The Author(s).
dc.descriptionCentro de Astrobiología; Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid/European Social Fund program; INTA-CSIC; MAFM, (ESP2017-87690-C3-3-R); MFM; Ministry of Science of Spain, (CA3/RSUE/2021-00405, PID2019-107442RB-C31); NASA Mars Exploration Program, (NNH13ZDA018O, NNH15AZ24I); NASA-GSFC, (NNX17AJ68G, RTI2018-094368-B-I00); Ramón y Cajal, (MDM-2017-0737, RYC2018-023943-I); Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/State Agency of Research, (MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033); Spanish Ministry of Universities; Laboratory Directed Research and Development, LDRD; Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, MCIU; European Research Council, ERC, (818602); Human Frontier Science Program, HFSP, (RGY0066/2018); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, KAKEN, (17H06456, 17H06458, 20H00195, 21H04515); Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras, FEDER, (PGC2018-094076-B-I00); Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, MINECO, (PID2019-107442RB-C32); Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, ASI; European Regional Development Fund, ERDF; Consejería de Educación e Investigación
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.languageen
dc.publisherNature Research
dc.titleDark microbiome and extremely low organics in Atacama fossil delta unveil Mars life detection limits
dc.typeArticle


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