Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 332, Issue 6034, Pages 1163-1166Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.1197258
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Funding
- DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Biological and Environmental Research
- National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources
- DOE at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [DE-AC52-07NA27344]
- DOE OBER [SCW1039]
- NASA Exobiology
- NASA
- NASA Astrobiology Institute at the U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
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Life is mostly composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus. Although these six elements make up nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids and thus the bulk of living matter, it is theoretically possible that some other elements in the periodic table could serve the same functions. Here, we describe a bacterium, strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae, isolated from Mono Lake, California, that is able to substitute arsenic for phosphorus to sustain its growth. Our data show evidence for arsenate in macromolecules that normally contain phosphate, most notably nucleic acids and proteins. Exchange of one of the major bio-elements may have profound evolutionary and geochemical importance.
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