Desi scientist's work on ‘extreme’ life key to decoding exstence on Mars

印度科学家对“极端”生命的研究是破解火星生命的关键

NEW DELHI: For a decade, Dr Ram Karan has been looking for the answer to one question — how does life survive, and thrive, in extreme conditions? While he looked for answers on earth, the discovery of liquid “water” bodies (as opposed to frozen) on Mars with exactly the kind of extreme conditions he analyses means his work could hold the key to understanding extraterrestrial life.

新德里：十年来，拉姆·卡兰博士一直在寻找一个问题的答案——生命是如何在极端条件下生存和繁衍的?

当他在地球上寻找答案的时候，火星上发现的液态“水”体(不是结冰状态的)与他所分析的完全一致，这意味着他的研究可能是了解外星生命的关键。

Over the past two years, there has been a lot of debate over the presence of “liquid water” on Mars. On September 28, a study in ‘Nature’ confirmed the presence of a subglacial lake on Mars first identified in 2018 and detected three others around it. How did they stay liquid though? Salt, it seems, is the answer. The freezing point of salt water is much lower, meaning it has to be colder for it to turn into ice.

在过去的两年里，关于火星上是否存在“液态水”有很多争论。9月28日，《自然》杂志上的一项研究证实，火星上存在一个冰川下湖泊（于2018年首次发现），并在其周围发现了另外三个。它们是如何保持液态的呢?

盐，答案似乎就是这个。咸水的凝固点要低得多，这意味着要更冷才能成冰。

“The reason it’s still not frozen despite an average -60°C temperature is the high salt content,” said Karan.

卡兰说:“尽管火星的平均气温为零下60摄氏度，但水仍然没有结冰，原因是其盐分含量很高。”

This is where his work comes in. The 37-year-old enzymology research scientist at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia has been studying extremophiles, microorganisms that thrive in inhospitable conditions — no oxygen, sub-zero temperatures, salt content that would kill most organisms — of the Red Sea, Antarctica and others.

这就是他所研究的方面。这位37岁的酶学科学家就职于沙特阿拉伯的阿卜杜拉国王科技大学，他一直在研究极端微生物，在红海、南极洲和其他地方不适宜生存的微生物——没有氧气、零下温度、盐含量会杀死大多数生物。

“We found similar conditions in Deep Lake Antarctica. The most intriguing part was that despite high salt content, we extracted extremozymes (enzymes derived from extremophiles). This strengthens the possibility of exstence of such enzymes, the building blocks of life, on Mars as well,” he said.

他说：“我们在南极洲深湖发现了类似的情况。最有趣的是，尽管盐含量很高，我们提取了极端酶(从极端微生物中提取的酶)。这加强了这种酶存在的可能性，这种酶是生命的基石，在火星上也存在。”

In his paper published in ‘Microorganisms’ journal on Friday, Karan, who is the lead author, wrote, “Studies of extremophilic proteins may not only help to understand the early evolution of life on Earth, but also provide clues for how life could potentially survive on other planets.” A paper he co-authored in 2017, which documented the discovery of an Antarctic microorganism in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America’, had also said, “The molecular basis for its survival is relevant to the search for life on Mars, as well as on the many newly discovered planets in our galaxy.”

发表在《微生物》杂志上的论文，作为第一作者的可兰写道，“嗜极蛋白质的研究不仅有助于了解地球生命的早期进化，也为生命如何可能在其他行星上生存提供了线索。”

2017年，他与人合著的一篇论文将南极微生物的发现记录在了《美国国家科学院院刊》上，该论文也称，“其存活的分子基础与寻找火星上的生命有关，也与银河系中许多新发现的行星有关。”

“His research on enzymes from extremophiles will enhance our understanding of life throughout the universe. These studies give scientists a window into how life could have evolved and adapt to exst on Mars,” said Thorsten Allers, professor of archaeal genetics at the University of Nottingham.

他对极端微生物酶的研究将增进我们对整个宇宙生命的理解。这些研究为科学家提供了一扇窗，让他们了解生命是如何进化并适应在火星上生存的，”诺丁汉大学古生遗传学教授托尔斯滕·阿勒斯说到。

So, when Martian samples are analysed, Karan’s research could help provide a framework. “In the future, when we are able to examine Martian salt samples for signs of life, we will rely on such analyses of Earth life,” said biologist Bonnie K Baxter, director of Salt Lake Institute, Westminster College.

因此，当分析火星样本时，卡兰的研究可能有助于提供一个框架。“将来，当我们能够检测火星盐样本中是否有生命迹象时，我们将依赖于对地球生命的此类分析，”威斯敏斯特学院盐湖城研究所所长、生物学家邦妮·K·巴克斯特说到。

印度时报读者的评论：

译文来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com/p/51082.html   译者：Jessica.Wu

Dr. Ram Karan

Extremophiles have important practical uses. They are a valuable source of industrially important enzymes and recent research has revealed novel mechanisms and biomolecular structures with a broad range of potential applications in biotechnology, biomining and bioremediation.

极端微生物有重要的实际用途。它们是工业上重要的酶的宝贵来源，最近的研究揭示了新的机制和生物分子结构，在生物技术、生物合成和生物修复方面具有广泛的潜在应用。

Praveen Jaiman

Human-being are failing to sustain life at Earth but are worried for other form of possible life around. Whatever life is here on earth, let us make efforts to save it otherwise in the event of global nuclear war earth will be like Mars only.

人类无法维持地球上的生命，却担心周围可能存在其他形式的生命。不管地球上有什么生命，让我们努力拯救这些生命吧，否则一旦发生全球核大战，地球将会变得像火星一样。

Ranjan Thimpu

Very Good Also works towards decoding of COVID-19 so that there will be Desi Vaccine available before importing foreign vaccine and spending huge amount of foreign currency :O

很好。我们也应该致力于破解新冠病毒，研发本土新冠疫苗，免得要花费巨额外汇进口。

Saurabh Kumar

What a joke. These losers wont under the life on earth and they looking for life in mars.

真是个笑话。这些失败者不愿拯救地球上的生命，反而去火星寻找生命。

J D

Who cares if there is life on Mars? First fix problems on Earth

谁在乎火星上是否有生命?

先解决地球上的问题吧

Elangovan Periasamy

When whole country clueless on finding cure for corona virus and these assholes wasting their time on irrelevant things

全国上下都不知道如何治愈新冠肺炎，这些混蛋把时间浪费在不相干的事情上。

J D

If there is life on Mars then NASA will discover it. Not India. Remember when NASA said Debris From India’s Antisatellite Test Puts Space Station at Risk?

如果火星上有生命，将由美国宇航局率先发现，而不是印度。还记得美国宇航局说过，印度反卫星试验的碎片将空间站置于危险之中

Quhesobi

It shows again that Feku, aka Surrender Modi, has failed in each and every aspect. If Feku does not care about our lives and livelihoods in India, what's the point in finding life on Mars? It's very sad thing that we don't have our own Covid-19 vaccines and no one seems to care about it.

这再次表明，莫迪在各方面都失败了。莫迪连印度人的生活和生计都不关心，在火星上寻找生命有什么意义?

非常遗憾的是，印度没有研制本土新冠疫苗，而且似乎没有人关心这方面。

Proud Indian

Covid 19 vaccanie development should be done on priority

应该先研究新冠疫苗

Justice Freedom Equality

Indian scientists can conduct research on benefits of dung only.

印度科学家只会研究牛粪的好处

Rampur Ka Laxman

Jokers first look for corona vaccine to survive on earth!!!! Feku saala

应该先研究新冠疫苗，拯救地球上的生命。

PD

let them decode life on india first....

让他们先破解印度的生命……

Balachandramenon Vengasserry

They shall utilise their time and energy to find out a suitable medicine for Covid-19

他们应该充分利用有限的时间和精力，研究治疗新冠肺炎的药物

Ashueng

We salute you, and you going to inspire thousands of people who work in science field in our country. you have proven that No need to work in abroad for scientific research. now we can do research on complex science matters in our country.

向你致敬，你将激励成千上万在科学领域工作的印度人。你已经证明了做科研工作不一定要在国外，在国内也可以对复杂科学问题进行研究。

Sandip Kulkarni

Work on corona vaccine first.

先研究新冠疫苗吧。

Shiva Holla

Instead work on vaccine

还不如研究新冠疫苗

Mithilesh Kumar

Appreciable efforts by the Indian scientist, hope he is able to throw more light on the possibility of life on the red planet.

这位印度科学家所做的努力值得赞赏，希望他能对这颗红色星球上存在生命的可能性提供更多的线索。

Ch Navakanta Mishra

Great job. congratulations.

做得好，祝贺

Dreet

Forget Mars, think about unemployment inflation and Coronavirus back home

忘了火星吧，想想印度的失业、通货膨胀和新冠疫情吧