GFAJ-1

Magnified cells of bacterium GFAJ-1 grown in medium containing arsenate

GFAJ-1 is a strain of rod-shaped bacteria in the family Halomonadaceae. It is an extremophile that was isolated from the hypersaline and alkaline Mono Lake in eastern California by geobiologist Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA research fellow in residence at the US Geological Survey. In a 2010 Science journal publication,[1] the authors claimed that the microbe, when starved of phosphorus, is capable of substituting arsenic for a small percentage of its phosphorus to sustain its growth.[2][3] Immediately after publication, other microbiologists and biochemists expressed doubt about this claim, which was robustly criticized in the scientific community. Subsequent independent studies published in 2012 found no detectable arsenate in the DNA of GFAJ-1, refuted the claim, and demonstrated that GFAJ-1 is simply an arsenate-resistant, phosphate-dependent organism.[4][5][6][7]

  1. ^ Wolfe-Simon, Felisa; Blum, Jodi Switzer; Kulp, Thomas R.; Gordon, Gwyneth W.; Hoeft, Shelley E.; Pett-Ridge, Jennifer; Stolz, John F.; Webb, Samuel M.; et al. (2 December 2010). "A bacterium that can grow by using arsenic instead of phosphorus" (PDF). Science. 332 (6034): 1163–1166. Bibcode:2011Sci...332.1163W. doi:10.1126/science.1197258. PMID 21127214. S2CID 51834091.
  2. ^ Katsnelson, Alla (2 December 2010). "Arsenic-eating microbe may redefine chemistry of life". Nature News. doi:10.1038/news.2010.645. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Arsenic-loving bacteria may help in hunt for alien life". BBC News. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  4. ^ "Studies refute arsenic bug claim". BBC News. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  5. ^ Tobias J. Erb; Patrick Kiefer; Bodo Hattendorf; Detlef Gunter; Julia Vorholt (8 July 2012). "GFAJ-1 Is an Arsenate-Resistant, Phosphate-Dependent Organism". Science. 337 (6093): 467–70. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..467E. doi:10.1126/science.1218455. PMID 22773139. S2CID 20229329.
  6. ^ RRResearch By Rosie Redfield. 16 January 2012
  7. ^ Marshall Louis Reaves; Sunita Sinha; Joshua Rabinowitz; Leonid Kruglyak; Rosemary Redfield (8 July 2012). "Absence of Detectable Arsenate in DNA from Arsenate-Grown GFAJ-1 Cells". Science. 337 (6093): 470–3. arXiv:1201.6643. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..470R. doi:10.1126/science.1219861. PMC 3845625. PMID 22773140.