Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2014

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International Session (Oral)

Symbol B (Biogeosciences) » B-AO Astrobiology & the Origin of Life

[B-AO01_28AM2] Astrobiology: Origins, Evolution, Distribution of Life

Mon. Apr 28, 2014 11:00 AM - 12:41 PM 502 (5F)

Convener:*Kensei Kobayashi(Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University), Akihiko Yamagishi(Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science, Department of Molecular Biology), Masatoshi Ohishi(Astronomy Data Center, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan), Eiichi Tajika(Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo), Takeshi Kakegawa(Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University), Shigeru Ida(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology), Chair:Kensei Kobayashi(Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University), Eiichi Tajika(Department of Complexity Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

12:20 PM - 12:35 PM

[BAO01-P09_PG] Molecular approach to the characterisation of Sri Lanka red rain cells

3-min talk in an oral session

*Norimune MIYAKE1, Takafumi MATSUI1, Chandra WICKRAMASINGHE2, Jamie WALLIS3, Daryl WALLIS2, Keerthi WICKRAMARATHNE4, Anil SAMARANAYAKE4 (1.Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan, 2.Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK, 3.School of Mathematics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK, 4.Medical Research Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Keywords:Red rain, Extremophile, Polonnaruwa

The recent mysterious phenomenon that has attracted much attention is that of the red rain which fell in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, on 13 November 2012. The microbial content in red rain shows generic similarities to that of the Indian red rain which fell in 2001. The morphological property of those microbes has been well documented [1,2]. Various microscopic analyses of our Sri Lankan red rain sample indicate that the defining red rain cells (RRC) exist in the presence of other microorganisms including diatoms. In our past paper, the ultrastructure of RRC shows that it is possibly a spore-form and so allowing them to thrive in the extreme upper biosphere conditions [3]. We also show the presence of uranium in the abnormally thick cell wall of RRCs. In this report, we present the molecular approach to the characterisation of microbial communities in red rain and reveal the genus of RRCs. A beads-beating protocol is carried out for the efficient extraction of DNA and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) for the analysis of microbial communities.References[1] Louis and Kumar (2006) New red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its possible extraterretrial origin, Astrophys. Space Sci, 302, 175-187. [2] Samaranayake et al. (2013) Microorganisms in the coloured rain of Sri Lanka, J. Cosmol, 21, 9805-9810.[3] Miyake et al. (2013) Discovery of Uranium in Outer Coat of Sri Lankan Red Rain Cells, J. Cosmol, 22, 1-8