Effect of Mars Conditions on the growth of Halobacterium

Kierston JacksonJanuary 6, 2012

Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology

Rationale & Purpose

The purpose of this project is to determine whether or not life can be on Mars. Finding life on other planets is important because the environment is rapidly being destroyed, so something that is a pressing issue of today’s time is trying to create life on other planets.

Hypothesis

If the surrounding conditions of the environment are changed to the conditions of Mars then it will be harder for the bacteria to grow, and the success rate of the bacteria that will grow will be low.

Background Information

• ExtremophileMicroorganisms with the ability to thrive in

extreme environments and are enabled to live and thrive because of the enzymes that they use called “extremozymes”.(national ocean service,2011)

• In this research the bacteria and conditions were chosen based on 2 extreme conditions of Mars. Mars has a -63 degrees temperature, and a 95% CO2 atmosphere. However Earth has a 78% nitrogenous atmosphere, and an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius

Background Research Cont.

There have been recent reports that say that flowing water has been seen on the surface of Mars. Planetary scientist believe that the water is salt water because the presence of salt in water lowers the actual temperature of the water, which will cause the ice on Mars to melt and will result in flowing water. Salt water on Mars is a great thing because the bacteria that was tested in this project was a halophile so it can grow and thrive in conditions that have a high salinity.

Flowing water on Mars

Methodology1. Make Halobacterium Agar2. Apply 3 drops of the bacteria onto the center of the plate and spread

with bacti-spreader3. Put in conditions4. Wait 24 hours and then take the plates from their locations5. Record any observed results6. Place petri dishes in the incubator at 37 degrees Celsius to test viability7. After 2 days take plates out and analyze them using imagej by NIH.

EDD: Experimental Design Diagram• Title: The Effect of Mars like conditions on the growth of Halobacterium

sp. NRC-1• Hypothesis: If the surrounding conditions of the environment are

changed to the conditions of Mars then it will be harder for the bacteria to grow, and the success rate of the bacteria that will grow will be low.

• IV: CO2 Atmosphere and Temperature

• DV: Percent coverage/pixels• Constants:

Amount of Halobacterium sp. NRC-1 added to each Petri dish

IV: CO2 Atmosphere and Temperature CO2 Atmosphere Temperature None CO2

Freezer (-4 degrees C) 4 4 Fridge (18 degrees C) 4 4

Research Hypothesis

• If the conditions of the environment are changed to those of Mars, then it will be harder for the bacteria to grow and survive.

Test Used

• Imagej• Measures percent coverage in pixels on Petri

dish.

Descriptive Statistics

Control Fridge & CO2Fridge Freezer & CO2 Freezer

Mode No Growth No growth No growth =Confluent Growth

Limited Growth Confluent Growth

Frequency Distribution

No Growth 2 2 2 0 1

Very Limited Growth

2 1 0 1 1

Limited Growth

0 0 0 2 0

Confluent Growth

0 1 2 1 2

Trial 4 4 4 4 4

Results

Raw Data

Fridge Fridge & CO2 Freezer & CO2

Freezer Control

.847 .912 27.548 19.931 .301

28.598 1.547 11.917 13.9 1.852

22.094 5.667 4.553 22.647 18.629

9.507 9.52 22.869 19.293 4.149

Fridge Fridge &

CO2

Freezer &

CO2

Freezer Control

Average: 15.262% 4.412% 16.723% 18.943 % 6.233%

Trends

• Overall trend – Freezer( -4 degrees Celsius) had most growth

- Freezer(-4 degrees Celsius) & CO2

• Control (37 degrees Celsius)- least amount of growth

Conclusions

• Life on Mars may be possible– Data shows that bacteria can grow and thrive in

CO2 and freezing conditions

Further Research

• Further research would definitely be an option for this project. The project could be expanded and use several different types of extremophiles instead of just the one used in this case. Also more conditions could be set other than the CO2 and the temperature variations. More sufficient ways could also be found to allow the growth to occur in more intense conditions.