The name proposed by the researchers, Hadesarchaea , already gives a clue about the habits of these creatures: Hades is the Greek god of the underworld, that is, hell. It is a group of microbes capable of living several kilometers away! deep, in the absence of light and oxygen.
The sequencing of its genome, the results of which have just been published in the journal Nature Microbiology , confirm that we are dealing with a new variety of archaea , a type of unicellular organism that has not been widely studied.
Found for the first time in a South African mine, some 3,300 meters deep, researchers have collected specimens of Hadesarchaea that live under the hot springs of Yellowstone Park – at temperatures of up to 70 degrees Celsius – and an estuary in North Carolina, in USA. According to experts, they get the energy they need to survive by transforming carbon monoxide and water into carbon dioxide and hydrogen . A type of metabolism unheard of to date.
Analyzing the biological intricacies of these Extremophilic beings will help to better understand archaea , which, despite their resemblance to bacteria, are as different from their evolutionary point of view as a daisy from a person. And, in addition, it sheds light on the life that, despite everything, manages to take root in the hostile environment of the deep biosphere.
The study was carried out by an international group of scientists led by Brett Baker , from the University of Texas, and Thijs Ettema , from the University of Uppsala, in Sweden.
