WASHINGTON: Two scientific papers published Sunday disproved a controversial claim made by NASA-funded scientists in 2010 that a new form of bacterial life had been discovered that could thrive on arsenic.
“Contrary to an original report, the new research clearly shows that the bacterium, GFAJ-1, cannot substitute arsenic for phosphorus to survive,” said a statement by Science magazine.
Science published the much-hyped initial study in December 2010, with lead researcher Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a fellow in NASA’s astrobiology program, announcing that a new form of life had been scooped from a California lake.
The bacterium in arsenic-rich Mono Lake was said to redefine the building blocks of life, surviving and growing by swapping phosphorus for arsenic in its DNA and cell membranes. Biologists consider these six elements as necessary for life: Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur.
