Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T08:13:24.721Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Studies on ultrasmall bacteria in relation to the presence of bacteria in the stratosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2010

Fawaz Alshammari ,
Milton Wainwright ,
Khalid Alabri  and
Sulamain A. Alharbi
Fawaz Alshammari
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk
Milton Wainwright
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk Department of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia e-mail: sharbi@ksu.edu.sa
Khalid Alabri
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk
Sulamain A. Alharbi
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK e-mail: mbp08ksa@sheffield.ac.uk Department of Botany and Microbiology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia e-mail: sharbi@ksu.edu.sa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent studies confirm that bacteria exist in the stratosphere. It is generally assumed that these bacteria are exiting from Earth, although it is possible that some are incoming from space. Most stratospheric bacterial isolates belong to the spore-forming genus Bacillus, although non-spore formers have also been isolated. Theoretically, the smaller a bacterium is, the more likely it is to be carried from Earth to the stratosphere. Ultrasmall bacteria have been frequently isolated from Earth environments, but not yet from the stratosphere. This is an anomalous situation, since we would expect such small bacteria to be over represented in the stratosphere-microflora. Here, we show that ultrasmall bacteria are present in the environment on Earth (i.e. in seawater and rainwater) and discuss the paradox of why they have not been isolated from the stratosphere.

Keywords

aerobiologyfilterable bacteriapanspermiarainwater bacteriastratospheric microbessymplasmultrasmall bacteria
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , April 2011 , pp. 99 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, J. & Heffernan, W. (1965). J. Bacteriol. 90, 1713.Google Scholar
Dehel, T., Lorge, F. & Dickinson, M. (2008). J. Electrostat. 66, 463–466.Google Scholar
Griffin, D. (2008). Aerobiologia 24, 19–25.Google Scholar
Hahn, M. (2004). Res. Microbiol. 155, 688–691.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imshenetsky, A., Lysenko, S. & Kazakov, G. (1978). Appl. Environ. Microb. 35, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miteva, V. & Brenchley, J. (2005). Appl. Environ. Microb. 71, 7806–7818.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shivaji, S. et al. (2009). Int. J. Syst. Evol. Micr. 59, 2977–2986.Google Scholar
Shivaji, S., Chaturvedi, P., Suresh, K., Reddy, G., Dutt, C., Wainwright, M., Narlikar, J. & Bhargava, P. (2006). Int. J. Syst. Evol. Micr. 56, 1465–1473.Google Scholar
Smith, D., Griffin, D. & Schuerger, A. (2010). Aerobiologia 26, 35–46.Google Scholar
Travers, R., Martin, P. & Reichelderfer, C. (1987). Appl. Environ. Microb. 53, 1263–1266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wainwright, M. (2003). Astrophys. Space Sci. 285, 563–570.Google Scholar
Wainwright, M. (2008). Focus-Proc. R. Microscop. Soc. 12, 32–41.Google Scholar
Wainwright, M., Alharbi, S. & Wickramasinghe, N. (2006). Int. J. Astrobiol. 5, 13–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wainwright, M., Wickramasinghe, N., Narlikar, J. & Rajaratnam, P. (2003). FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 218, 161–165.Google Scholar
Yang, Y., Itahashi, S., Yokobori, S. & Yamagishi, A. (2008). Biol. Sci. Space 22, 18–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar