I am a senior at the University of Michigan, and am researching the
existance of thermophiles able to grow at 250 C. I would greatly
appreciate it if you could give me some information on them, for example if
the contraversy over their ability to exist in that temperature has been
resolved. Has the experiment done by Baross and Deming been repeated? Did
actual bacterial growth occur at 250 C, or was it only artifacts from the
medium or contaminants introduced in processing? If they do exist, I would
like to know how they are able to adapt and survive in this environment.
How are their proteins and nucleic acids not degraded at such high
temperatures? Do they ressemble the peptide-microspheres proposed by
Yanagawa and Kojima? Did life originate from a submarine hydrothermal
vent? What discoveries have been made in this field since the study done
by yayanos, chastain, and trent in 1984? Any relating information would be
of great help. Thank you for your time.
Julie McLaughlin
