LEXEN: Paleobiology of Ancient Salt Formations: Examinations of Primary Crystals for Biological Materials

LEXEN：古代盐层的古生物学：生物材料初级晶体的检查

• 批准号: 0085371
• 负责人: Russell Vreeland
• 金额: $ 45万
• 依托单位: West Chester University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-09-15 至 2004-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0085371&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: LEXEN; Paleobiology; Ancient; Salt; Formations

This project involves both microbiologists and geologists who will attempt to isolate live microorganisms from extremely old (5 million years and older) salt crystals. The program will develop methods to identify those geological formations most likely to contain crystals with surviving life forms. This project is a continuation and expansion of a successful, exploratory LExEn Project (Paleobiology of Ancient Salt Formations: Examination of Primary Crystals for Trapped Biological Materials, NSF Award # EAR 9714203) during which the investigators isolated the worlds oldest living bacterium (250 million years old) from an ancient sodium chloride crystal. The current project has four main goals. First, to develop new methods and media to isolate, quantify and analyze ancient microbes trapped in NaCl crystals. Second, to improve understanding of life and the paleoenvironment at the time the crystals formed. Third to expand the use of non-contaminating methods for sample recovery. Fourth, to train graduate and undergraduate students for future interdisciplinary work with microbes from extreme environments. This project is based on the hypothesis that small numbers of bacteria, trapped in the stable environment of a salt crystal, can survive for extremely long periods of time. The Principal Investigator's laboratory has been involved in the study of extremely halophilic Archaea associated with salt crystals for over ten years. The Project Director has published ten refereed articles on this topic since 1991. The project will obtain salt crystals that range in age from modern hypersaline environments to Early Miocene (20-24 Ma), Early/Middle Eocene (ca. 50 Ma), Late Permian (ca. 250 Ma), and Late Silurian age (408- 421 Ma). The data produced will describe the state of evolution and the environment in which these crystals originally formed. The investigators will also complete the description of the 250 million year old bacteria they have already isolated from Permian aged crystals.

该项目涉及微生物学家和地质学家，他们将试图从非常古老（500万年或更老）的盐晶体中分离出活的微生物。 该计划将开发方法来识别那些最有可能包含生存生命形式的晶体的地质构造。 该项目是一个成功的，探索性的LExEn项目（古盐形成的古生物学：被困生物材料的初级晶体检查，NSF奖#19714203）的延续和扩展，在此期间，研究人员从古老的氯化钠晶体中分离出世界上最古老的活细菌（2.5亿年）。 目前的项目有四个主要目标。 首先，开发新的方法和介质来分离、定量和分析困在NaCl晶体中的古代微生物。 第二，提高对生命和晶体形成时的古环境的理解。 三是扩大使用无污染的样品回收方法。 第四，培养研究生和本科生，以便将来与极端环境中的微生物进行跨学科研究。该项目基于一种假设，即少量细菌被困在盐晶体的稳定环境中，可以存活很长时间。 主要研究者的实验室已经参与了与盐晶体相关的极端嗜盐菌的研究超过十年。 自1991年以来，项目主任发表了10篇关于这一主题的参考文章。 该项目将获得盐晶体，其年龄范围从现代高盐环境到早中新世（20-24 Ma），早/中始新世（约20 - 30 Ma）。50 Ma），晚二叠世（约。晚志留世（408- 421 Ma）。 产生的数据将描述这些晶体最初形成的演化状态和环境。 研究人员还将完成对他们已经从二叠纪古老晶体中分离出的2.5亿年前细菌的描述。