( heated sand near an Italian beach and ...)Microbe fixes nitrogen at a blistering 92 C

Nitrogen is necessary for all life because it is an essential part of amino acids and proteins. To be used by organisms, gaseous nitrogen must be converted to other compounds, or "fixed," which can only be done by certain bacteria and specific archaea. Nitrogen can be fixed into ammonia, nitrate and other products that can be used by land and sea plants, which in turn are eaten by higher animals.

Today's oceans contain nitrogen both as a dissolved gas and as nitrate. Ocean water that percolates down into the seafloor can pick up enough heat from volcanism deep in the earth to cause the fixed nitrogen to revert to its gaseous form. Venting water hotter than 30 C contains very little nitrate so organisms in areas where the subseafloor temperatures are higher would lack nitrogen in a form they can use.

The discovery of FS406-22's nitrogen fixing capabilities at 92 C, therefore, widens the realm of where life can grow in the subseafloor biosphere and other nitrogen-limited ecosystems, perhaps even on other planets, Mehta says.

Scientists have speculated since 1981 that nitrogen fixation was occurring at hydrothermal vents because vent animals had completely different nitrogen isotope ratios than non-vent deep sea animals.

The work that led to FS406-22 was supported by Washington Sea Grant, based at the UW, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Mehta worked five years doing some 600 enrichments, with FS406-22 being the only one she was could wean off fixed nitrogen completely. An unimpressive looking sphere of a microbe, FS406-22 is able to grow with gaseous nitrogen as its sole source of nitrogen at temperatures ranging from 58 to 92 C, with the fastest growth at 90 C.

The genetic analysis shows FS406-22 as having one of the deepest-rooted genes and the most primordial characteristics in terms of gene sequence, Baross says.

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Source:University of Washington