Date of Graduation
5-2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Health, Human Performance and Recreation
Advisor/Mentor
Gray, Michelle R.
Committee Member/Reader
Fort, Inza L.
Committee Member/Second Reader
Kral, Tim
Abstract
When the topic of life on Mars gets brought up, our minds automatically jump to thinking of the definition of life as any advanced creature. But I am looking at life on a much smaller scale. A group of Archaea called methanogens live on Earth in some very normal as well as extreme conditions, and in the last few decades scientists have been questioning if they could even be found on the planet Mars. These microbes use hydrogen gas as their energy source and produce methane as a byproduct, which has been found in relatively significant amounts on Mars. It has been known for quite some time that methanogens grow and/or survive under some Mars-like conditions. This is because there is carbon dioxide, hydrogen gas, potential liquid water, and anaerobic environments (no oxygen) on Mars. All of these things are conducive to the survival of methanogens. Some of the soil on Mars has been shown to resemble that of the silicate montmorillonite. My research dealt with the specific methanogenic strain called Methanococcus maripaludis. It has been documented that M. maripaludis did not grow on montmorillonite, but would if growth medium was present. My research sought to determine which essential compound or compounds in the medium allowed for growth of M. maripaludis on montmorillonite. This was done by creating eight conditions (including the control) in which different compounds or solutions were taken out of the growth medium in order to see what the effect of its absence was. This allowed me to draw certain conclusions about the different situations and see which was essential for the growth of M. maripaludis. The findings of my research were that there was indeed an essential compound, and it was that of the salt solution. The M. maripaludis could not grow at all without it, and it grew minimally with only the salt solution present on the soil.
Citation
Waddell, H. W. (2015). The Essential Nutrients for Methanococcus maripaludis: Growth on Montmorillonite. Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hhpruht/20
