NAI
2001 Annual Science Report
Michigan State University
Reporting | JUL 2000 – JUN 2001
Executive Summary
Project Summary
Low temperature is a predominant environmental characteristic of interstellar space, our solar system, including most of the planets and their satellites, and asteroids and meteors. An understanding of the impact of low temperatures on the responses and evolution of biological organisms is, thus, integral to our knowledge of Astrobiology. The research that we propose will explore multiple aspects of microbial adaptation to low temperatures. One major line of investigation will be to conduct structural and functional genomic and proteomic analyses of bacteria that have been isolated from the Arctic and Antarctic permafrost. What genes and proteins enable the permafrost bacteria to inhabit these subfreezing environments? Do they have specific “freezing tolerance” genes and proteins, or “specialized alleles” of commonly found bacterial genes, or both? How is expression of the bacterial genome affected by low temperatures and other conditions that “hitchhiker” bacteria might encounter ... Continue reading.
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Michael Thomashow
NAI, ASTEP, ASTID, Exobiology -
TEAM Active Dates:
7/2001 - 6/2006 CAN 2 -
Members:
12 (See All) - Visit Team Page
Project Reports
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Center for Genomic and Evolutionary Studies on Microbial Life at Low Temperature
ROADMAP OBJECTIVES: 4.0 5.0 7.0 16.0
Publications
- There are no publications for this team in the 2001 annual report.
2001 Teams
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Arizona State University
Carnegie Institution of Washington
Harvard University
Marine Biological Laboratory
Michigan State University
NASA Ames Research Center
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Johnson Space Center
Pennsylvania State University
Scripps Research Institute
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Rhode Island
University of Washington
Virtual Planetary Laboratory (JPL/CalTech)