New studies contradict report of arsenic-loving organism
JUL 10, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.026155
Mercury News : New findings refute a controversial 2010 study published in Science that a bacterium in Mono Lake, California, can substitute arsenic for phosphorus to survive. Phosphorus has long been considered one of several elements essential for life. If GFAJ-1 could incorporate arsenic into its DNA insteadâmdash;as suggested by Felisa Wolfe-Simon, lead author of the original paperâmdash;such a creature would boost the potential environments in which extraterrestrial life could conceivably be found. However, two studies published online this week in Science, one by Tobias Erb and colleagues and the other by Marshall Reaves and colleagues, suggest that although the organism can survive in high arsenic and low phosphorus conditions, it still needs phosphorus to grow. Nevertheless, to date Science has not retracted Wolfe-Simon’s study.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
