Publications by authors named "F M Sauro"
Article Synopsis
- Quartzite caves on tepuis in the Guyana Shield host unique microbes adapted to silica-rich and acidic conditions, leading to a study of their metabolic activities.
- Researchers isolated 80 microbial strains, many of which exhibited multiple enzymatic functions and antimicrobial properties, including two notable strains producing significant antimicrobial compounds.
- The findings suggest these previously underexplored cave environments could offer valuable microbial strains for biotechnological applications, highlighting their potential for antibiotics and other beneficial compounds.
Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain) is one of the best terrestrial analogs to Martian volcanology. Particularly, Lanzarote lava tubes may offer access to recognizably preserved chemical and morphological biosignatures valuable for astrobiology. By combining microbiological, mineralogical, and organic geochemistry tools, an in-depth characterization of speleothems and associated microbial communities in lava tubes of Lanzarote is provided.
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- * An interdisciplinary group of experts developed a strategic framework for exploring these planetary caves, focusing on areas like astrobiology, geology, and robotics, aiming to guide research for the next decade.
- * They identified 53 priority research questions from an initial list of 198, emphasizing that with sufficient funding and support, advancements in technology could lead to robotic missions investigating lunar and Martian caves for evidence of extraterrestrial life and future human habitation.
Microbial communities inhabiting caves in quartz-rich rocks are still underexplored, despite their possible role in the silica cycle. The world's longest orthoquartzite cave, Imawarì Yeuta, represents a perfect arena for the investigation of the interactions between microorganisms and silica in non-thermal environments due to the presence of extraordinary amounts of amorphous silica speleothems of different kinds. In this work, the microbial diversity of Imawarì Yeuta was dissected by analyzing nineteen samples collected from different locations representative of different silica amorphization phases and types of samples.
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