Cyanobacteria could help colonize the moon and Mars

The biochemical process by which cyanobacteria acquire nutrients from rocks in Chile’s Atacama Desert has inspired engineers to think of new ways microbes might help humans build colonies on the moon and Mars.

Cyanobacteria
Atacama Desert. Photo by Bailey Hall on Unsplash

Researchers used 1 high-resolution electron microscopy and advanced spectroscopic imaging techniques to gain a precise understanding of how microorganisms modify both naturally occurring minerals and synthetically made nanoceramics. A key factor, according to the scientists, is that cyanobacteria produce biofilms that dissolve magnetic iron oxide particles within gypsum rocks, subsequently transforming the magnetite into oxidized hematite.

The team’s findings could provide a pathway for new biomimetic mining methods. The authors also said they see the results as a step toward using microorganisms in large-scale 3D printing or additive manufacturing at a scale that’s useful in civil engineering in harsh environments, like those on the moon and Mars.

“Through a biological process that has evolved over millions of years, these tiny miners excavate rocks, extracting the minerals that are essential to the physiological functions, such as photosynthesis, that enable their survival,” said corresponding author David Kisailus. “Could humans use a similar biochemical approach to obtain and manipulate the minerals that we find valuable? This project has led us down that pathway.”

The Atacama Desert is one of the driest and most inhospitable places on Earth, but Chroococcidiopsis, a cyanobacterium found in gypsum samples collected there by the Johns Hopkins team, has developed “the most amazing adaptations to survive its rocky habitat,” said co-author Jocelyne DiRuggiero.

“Some of those traits include producing chlorophyll that absorbs far-red photons and the ability to extract water and iron from surrounding minerals,” she added.

Using advanced electron microscopes and spectroscopic instruments, the researchers found evidence of the microbes in the gypsum by observing how the very minerals contained within were transformed.

“Cyanobacteria cells promoted magnetite dissolution and iron solubilization by producing abundant extracellular polymeric substances, leading to the dissolution and oxidation of magnetite to hematite,” DiRuggiero said. “Production of siderophores [iron-binding compounds generated by bacteria and fungi] was enhanced in the presence of magnetite nanoparticles, suggesting their use by the cyanobacteria to acquire iron from magnetite.”

Kisailus said the way the microorganisms process metals in their desolate home made him think about our own mining and manufacturing practices.

“When we mine for minerals, we often wind up with ores that may present challenges for extraction of valuable metals,” he said. “We frequently need to put these ores through extreme processing to transform it into something of value. That practice can be monetarily and environmentally costly.”

Kisailus said he is now pondering a biochemical approach using natural or synthetic analogues of siderophores, enzymes and other secretions to manipulate minerals where only a large mechanical crusher currently works. And taking a leap from here, he said there could also be a way to get microorganisms to employ similar biochemical capabilities to produce an engineered material on demand in less-than-convenient locations.

“I call it ‘lunar forming’ instead of terraforming,” Kisailus said. “If you want to build something on the moon, instead of going through the expense of having people do it, we could have robotic systems 3D-print media and then have the microbes reconfigure it into something of value. This could be done without endangering human lives.”

References

  1. Wei Huang, Taifeng Wang, Cesar Perez-Fernandez, Jocelyne DiRuggiero, David Kisailus (2022) Iron acquisition and mineral transformation by cyanobacteria living in extreme environments Materials Today Bio doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100493

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