Hot Spring Amoeba Breaks Record for Heat Tolerance of Complex Life
The amoeba can divide at 63 C and recover after brief exposure to 70 C, researchers said, setting a new heat-tolerance record for complex life.
- On Tuesday, researchers published findings in Cell identifying Incendiamoeba, a heat-tolerant amoeba discovered in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park that thrives at 63° Celsius , setting a new heat-tolerance record for eukaryotes.
- Syracuse University researchers, led by Beryl Rappaport and Angela Oliverio, identified the organism in a tributary of Hot Spring Creek, surpassing the previous eukaryote heat record of 60° Celsius held by algae and fungi.
- The amoeba performs mitosis at 63° Celsius and survives up to 70° Celsius by entering dormancy, utilizing specialized gene activity and structural flexibility to protect itself against extreme heat.
- "These temperatures surpass what was previously thought possible for any eukaryote and reopens questions about the limits of complex life," Rappaport said, challenging fundamental biological constraints on how cells evolve.
- Oliverio suggested the findings expand the search for life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe, as researchers continue characterizing microbial lineages thriving in environments once deemed fatal to complex life.
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Tenacious hot springs amoeba sets heat
Sept 22 : Lassen Volcanic National Park offers a wondrous landscape of hot springs and other geothermal features in the Cascade mountains of California, fueled by molten rock deep below the surface. In one of these hot springs, scientists have discovered a microbe that surely is one of the toughest found anywhere on
Escritura Ciencia, 22 Sep (EFE).- A study collected in the scientific journal Cell describes a new species of amoeba that has broken record in ability to survive at high temperatures: it is able to feed and reproduce in thermal waters that reach 63 degrees Celsius.The tiny unicellular organism, baptized by scientists as ‘Incendiamoeba cascadensis’ (ameba of fire from waterfalls), can thrive at temperatures that would end any other known complex …
This amoeba has broken all thermal records for complex organisms
Hot spring amoeba breaks record for heat tolerance of complex life
A tiny, single-celled organism can thrive at temperatures that would kill all other known complex life. In a study published in Cell, scientists describe a new species of amoeba that can eat and reproduce in hot spring water as warm as 63°C (145°F) in California's Lassen Volcanic National Park. The amoeba can protect itself at temperatures up to 70°C (158°F) by changing shape and forming a protective outer layer.
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