The Role of Meteorite Impacts in the Origin of Life.

The conditions, timing, and setting for the origin of life on Earth and whether life exists elsewhere in our solar system and beyond represent some of the most fundamental scientific questions of our time. Although the bombardment of planets and satellites by asteroids and comets has long been viewed as a destructive process that would have presented a barrier to the emergence of life and frustrated or extinguished life, we provide a comprehensive synthesis of data and observations on the beneficial role of impacts in a wide range of prebiotic and biological processes. In the context of previously proposed environments for the origin of life on Earth, we discuss how meteorite impacts can generate both subaerial and submarine hydrothermal vents, abundant hydrothermal-sedimentary settings, and impact analogues for volcanic pumice rafts and splash pools. Impact events can also deliver and/or generate many of the necessary chemical ingredients for life and catalytic substrates such as clays as well. The role that impact cratering plays in fracturing planetary crusts and its effects on deep subsurface habitats for life are also discussed. In summary, we propose that meteorite impact events are a fundamental geobiological process in planetary evolution that played an important role in the origin of life on Earth. We conclude with the recommendation that impact craters should be considered prime sites in the search for evidence of past life on Mars. Furthermore, unlike other geological processes such as volcanism or plate tectonics, impact cratering is ubiquitous on planetary bodies throughout the Universe and is independent of size, composition, and distance from the host star. Impact events thus provide a mechanism with the potential to generate habitable planets, moons, and asteroids throughout the Solar System and beyond.

A mineralogical characterization of biogenic calcium carbonates precipitated by heterotrophic bacteria isolated from cryophilic polar regions.

Precipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3(s) ) can be driven by microbial activity. Here, a systematic approach is used to identify the morphological and mineralogical characteristics of CaCO3(s) precipitated during the heterotrophic growth of micro-organisms isolated from polar environments. Focus was placed on establishing mineralogical features that are common in bioliths formed during heterotrophic activity, while in parallel identifying features that are specific to bioliths precipitated by certain microbial phylotypes. Twenty microbial isolates that precipitated macroscopic CaCO3(s) when grown on B4 media supplemented with calcium acetate or calcium citrate were identified. A multimethod approach, including scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and micro-X-ray diffraction (µ-XRD), was used to characterize CaCO3(s) precipitates. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed that complete CaCO3(s) crystal encrustation of Arthrobacter sp. cells was common, while encrustation of Rhodococcus sp. cells did not occur. Several euhedral and anhedral mineral formations including disphenoid-like epitaxial plates, rhomboid-like aggregates with epitaxial rhombs, and spherulite aggregates were observed. While phylotype could not be linked to specific mineral formations, isolates tended to precipitate either euhedral or anhedral minerals, but not both. Three anhydrous CaCO3(s) polymorphs (calcite, aragonite, and vaterite) were identified by µ-XRD, and calcite and aragonite were also identified based on TEM lattice-fringe d value measurements. The presence of certain polymorphs was not indicative of biogenic origin, although several mineralogical features such as crystal-encrusted bacterial cells, or casts of bacterial cells embedded in mesocrystals are an indication of biogenic origin. In addition, some features such as the formation of vaterite and bacterial entombment appear to be linked to certain phylotypes. Identifying phylotypes consistent with certain mineralogical features is the first step toward discovering a link between these crystal features and the precise underlying molecular biology of the organism precipitating them.