Endolith
Encyclopedia
An endolith is an organism
(archaeum, bacterium, fungus
, lichen
, alga or amoeba
) that lives inside rock
, coral
, animal shells, or in the pore
s between mineral
grains of a rock. Many are extremophile
s, living in places previously thought inhospitable to life. They are of particular interest to astrobiologists
, who theorize that endolithic environments on Mars
and other planets constitute potential refugia for extraterrestrial microbial communities.
Chasmoendolith: colonizes fissures and cracks in the rock (chasm = cleft)
Cryptoendolith: colonizes structural cavities within porous rocks, including spaces produced and vacated by euendoliths (crypto = hidden)
Euendolith: penetrates actively into the interior of rocks forming tunnels that conform with the shape of its body, rock boring organism (eu = good, true)
organisms, the temperature limit is at about 120 °C (the recently discovered Strain 121
can reproduce at 121 °C), which limits the possible depth to 4-4.5 km below the continent
al crust, and 7 or 7.5 km below the ocean
floor. Endolithic organisms have also been found in surface rocks in regions of low humidity (hypolith
) and low temperature (psychrophile
), including the Dry Valleys and permafrost
of Antarctica, the Alps
and the Rocky Mountains
.
, potassium
, or sulfur
. (See lithotroph
.) Whether they metabolize
these directly from the surrounding rock, or rather excrete
an acid
to dissolve them first, remains to be seen. The Ocean Drilling Program
found microscopic trails in basalt
from the Atlantic
, Indian
, and Pacific ocean
s that contain DNA
. Photosynthetic endoliths have also been discovered.
As water and nutrients are rather sparse in the environment of the endolith, they have a very slow reproduction cycle. Early data suggests that some only engage in cell division
once every hundred years. Most of their energy is spent repairing cell damage caused by cosmic ray
s or racemization
, and very little is available for reproduction or growth. It is thought that they weather long ice age
s in this fashion, emerging when the temperature in the area warms.
s, they can generate organic compounds essential for their survival on their own from inorganic matter. Some endoliths have specialized in feeding on their autotroph relatives. The micro-biotope
where these different endolithic species live together has been called a subsurface lithotrophic microbial ecosystem (SLiME).
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
(archaeum, bacterium, fungus
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
, lichen
Lichen
Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
, alga or amoeba
Amoeboid
Amoeboids are single-celled life-forms characterized by an irregular shape."Amoeboid" and "amœba" are often used interchangeably even by biologists, and especially refer to a creature moving by using pseudopodia. Most references to "amoebas" or "amoebae" are to amoeboids in general rather than to...
) that lives inside rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
, coral
Coral
Corals are marine animals in class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria typically living in compact colonies of many identical individual "polyps". The group includes the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton.A coral "head" is a colony of...
, animal shells, or in the pore
Porosity
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0–1, or as a percentage between 0–100%...
s between mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
grains of a rock. Many are extremophile
Extremophile
An extremophile is an organism that thrives in physically or geochemically extreme conditions that are detrimental to most life on Earth. In contrast, organisms that live in more moderate environments may be termed mesophiles or neutrophiles...
s, living in places previously thought inhospitable to life. They are of particular interest to astrobiologists
Astrobiology
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This interdisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and habitable planets outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry,...
, who theorize that endolithic environments on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
and other planets constitute potential refugia for extraterrestrial microbial communities.
Subdefinitions
The term "endolith", which defines an organism that colonizes the interior of any kind of rock, has been further classified into three subclasses:Chasmoendolith: colonizes fissures and cracks in the rock (chasm = cleft)
Cryptoendolith: colonizes structural cavities within porous rocks, including spaces produced and vacated by euendoliths (crypto = hidden)
Euendolith: penetrates actively into the interior of rocks forming tunnels that conform with the shape of its body, rock boring organism (eu = good, true)
Environment
Endoliths have been found in rock down to a depth of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi), though it is unknown if that is their limit (due to the cost involved in digging so deeply). The main threat to their survival seems not to result from the pressure at such depth, but from the increased temperature. Judging from hyperthermophileHyperthermophile
A hyperthermophile is an organism that thrives in extremely hot environments— from 60 degrees C upwards. An optimal temperature for the existence of hyperthermophiles is above 80°C . Hyperthermophiles are a subset of extremophiles, micro-organisms within the domain Archaea, although some bacteria...
organisms, the temperature limit is at about 120 °C (the recently discovered Strain 121
Strain 121
Strain 121 is a single-celled microbe, of the domain Archaea. First discovered off Puget Sound in a hydrothermal vent, it is a hyperthermophile, able to survive and reproduce at . It was the only known form of life that can tolerate such high temperatures...
can reproduce at 121 °C), which limits the possible depth to 4-4.5 km below the continent
Continent
A continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
al crust, and 7 or 7.5 km below the ocean
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
floor. Endolithic organisms have also been found in surface rocks in regions of low humidity (hypolith
Hypolith
In Arctic and Antarctic ecology, a hypolith is a photosynthetic organism that livesunderneath rocks in climatically extreme deserts such as Cornwallis Island and Devon Island in the Canadian high Arctic. The community itself is the hypolithon....
) and low temperature (psychrophile
Psychrophile
Psychrophiles or cryophiles are extremophilic organisms that are capable of growth and reproduction in cold temperatures, ranging from −15°C to +10°C. Temperatures as low as −15°C are found in pockets of very salty water surrounded by sea ice. They can be contrasted with thermophiles, which...
), including the Dry Valleys and permafrost
Permafrost
In geology, permafrost, cryotic soil or permafrost soil is soil at or below the freezing point of water for two or more years. Ice is not always present, as may be in the case of nonporous bedrock, but it frequently occurs and it may be in amounts exceeding the potential hydraulic saturation of...
of Antarctica, the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
and the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
.
Survival
Endoliths can survive by feeding on traces of ironIron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
, or sulfur
Sulfur
Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element with atomic number 16. In the periodic table it is represented by the symbol S. It is an abundant, multivalent non-metal. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with chemical formula S8. Elemental sulfur is a bright yellow...
. (See lithotroph
Lithotroph
A lithotroph is an organism that uses an inorganic substrate to obtain reducing equivalents for use in biosynthesis or energy conservation via aerobic or anaerobic respiration. Known chemolithotrophs are exclusively microbes; No known macrofauna possesses the ability to utilize inorganic...
.) Whether they metabolize
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
these directly from the surrounding rock, or rather excrete
Excretion
Excretion is the process by which waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials are eliminated from an organism. This is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after leaving the cell...
an acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...
to dissolve them first, remains to be seen. The Ocean Drilling Program
Ocean Drilling Program
The Ocean Drilling Program was an international cooperative effort to explore and study the composition and structure of the Earth's ocean basins. ODP, which began in 1985, was the direct successor to the highly successful Deep Sea Drilling Project initiated in 1968 by the United States...
found microscopic trails in basalt
Basalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
from the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, Indian
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, and Pacific ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
s that contain DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
. Photosynthetic endoliths have also been discovered.
As water and nutrients are rather sparse in the environment of the endolith, they have a very slow reproduction cycle. Early data suggests that some only engage in cell division
Cell division
Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle. This type of cell division in eukaryotes is known as mitosis, and leaves the daughter cell capable of dividing again. The corresponding sort...
once every hundred years. Most of their energy is spent repairing cell damage caused by cosmic ray
Cosmic ray
Cosmic rays are energetic charged subatomic particles, originating from outer space. They may produce secondary particles that penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and surface. The term ray is historical as cosmic rays were thought to be electromagnetic radiation...
s or racemization
Racemization
In chemistry, racemization refers to the converting of an enantiomerically pure mixture into a mixture where more than one of the enantiomers are present...
, and very little is available for reproduction or growth. It is thought that they weather long ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
s in this fashion, emerging when the temperature in the area warms.
Slime
As most endoliths are autotrophAutotroph
An autotroph, or producer, is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules using energy from light or inorganic chemical reactions . They are the producers in a food chain, such as plants on land or algae in water...
s, they can generate organic compounds essential for their survival on their own from inorganic matter. Some endoliths have specialized in feeding on their autotroph relatives. The micro-biotope
Biotope
Biotope is an area of uniform environmental conditions providing a living place for a specific assemblage of plants and animals. Biotope is almost synonymous with the term habitat, but while the subject of a habitat is a species or a population, the subject of a biotope is a biological community.It...
where these different endolithic species live together has been called a subsurface lithotrophic microbial ecosystem (SLiME).
See also
- LithotrophLithotrophA lithotroph is an organism that uses an inorganic substrate to obtain reducing equivalents for use in biosynthesis or energy conservation via aerobic or anaerobic respiration. Known chemolithotrophs are exclusively microbes; No known macrofauna possesses the ability to utilize inorganic...
- LithophileLithophileLithophiles are micro-organisms that can live within the pore interstices of sedimentary and even igneous rocks to depths of several kilometers....
External links
- Endoliths General Collection — This collection of online resources such as news articles, web sites, and reference pages provides a comprehensive array of information about endoliths.
- Endolith Advanced Collection — Compiled for professionals and advanced learners, this endolith collection includes online resources such as journal articles, academic reviews, and surveys.