Grand Valley Magazine Winter 2014 - (Page 32)
RESEARCH
1. Michael Snider, left,
and Adam McMillan study
pigments and movement
of unique cyanobacterial
mats. Their research could
help explain the evolution
of photosynthesis, and has
potential implications for
exploration of other planets.
photo by
Bernadine Carey-Tucker
Researchers
explore sinkhole
bacteria's roots,
potential in space
by Nate Hoekstra
Grand Valley students Michael Snider
and Adam McMillan spend a lot of time
doing experiments with globs of smelly
purple goo. But that goo, a bacterial
mat found in just a handful of unique
sinkholes offshore near Alpena, could
have significant ties to bacteria from 3
billion years ago, and might give NASA
an idea of what to look for in their
search for life beyond Earth.
Snider, a graduate student at the
Annis Water Resources Institute, focuses
on studying the pigments of the unique
mats, which only exist in sinkholes in
Lake Huron. Meanwhile McMillan, an
undergraduate Honors College student,
focuses on how the unique structure
and mobility of the mats allows them to
move to maximize their effectiveness
during photosynthesis.
The technical name for the purple
goo is cyanobacterial mats, and they're
interesting because they are able to
survive at significantly different light
levels, and in water that has a unique
chemistry due to the geology of the
ancient seabed the water comes from.
"These are extreme conditions,"
Snider said. "It's a low-oxygen and highsulfur environment. You don't find a lot
of other things living here. We're finding
that the cyanobacteria not only survive
in this extreme environment, they thrive
by adapting to wide varieties of light
conditions underwater."
The unique water chemistry is caused
by the water's erosive path through
the porous limestone bedrock before
The mats move toward available sources
of light, in this case, the exposed area in
the shape of a Grand Valley logo.
32
Winter '14
2. The mats in Lake Huron.
photo courtesy Joe Hoyt, NOAA
National Marine Sanctuaries
McMillan's research
focuses on how the
bacterial filaments
within mats move
2
in response to the
changing light
conditions, also a
key factor in learning
how the microbes
use energy from
the sun.
"What's interesting
about how they move
in response to the
light is that they move
as a coordinated mat community, not
as individuals," McMillan said. "Their
movement has a lot to do with how they
take advantage of the resources they
have to survive. Their movement isn't their
only survival mechanism, but it allows
them to find the right amount of light."
The movement of the mats is unique
because the individual microbes are
extremely simple, but they're capable
of moving in extremely complex and
precise ways, McMillan said. If a sample
is placed in a petri dish that's covered
with foil, and a small square is cut in the
foil and exposed to light, the sample
underneath will move to fill the square
of light. "It will move to get the most
energy that it can," McMillan said.
NASA scientists are interested in
findings from the research because
conditions that are present in the
sinkholes are similar to what may be
found on other earth-like planets,
Snider said.
"This can help us gauge what to look
for in terms of finding potential life on
other planets," he said.
1
it feeds into Lake Huron, and shares
characteristics with the water of the
early Earth. Snider and McMillan hope
that their research will reveal more
about the evolution of photosynthesis.
They suppose that the bacteria could
be descendants of the first bacteria to
produce oxygen from such a sulfur-rich
water environment, helping to pump
enough oxygen into the atmosphere
of the ancient Earth to eventually help
support life on land.
"These cyanobacteria are related to
the first organisms that first put oxygen
in the planet's atmosphere," Snider said.
"This could be the so-called missing
link between ancient photosynthesis
that didn't produce oxygen, and the
photosynthesis we see today, as these
bacteria can perform both kinds."
The ability of the bacteria to survive
in low-oxygen, high-sulfur environments
with varying light levels is also important.
Snider and McMillan, along with their
faculty advisor and Grand Valley
professor Bopi Biddanda, hope to
determine how the energy coming into
the ecosystem in the form of light from
the sun is maximized by the pigments
and movement of the mats. Their
National Science Foundation-supported
research is scheduled to continue
through early this year.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Grand Valley Magazine Winter 2014
Campus News
International Education
Arts
Athletics
Donor Impact
Covenant House provides education, opportunity
Going the extra Medical Mile
Seeds of Promise
Student media: creating community, content and careers
Q&A Bill Holsinger-Robinson
Research
Off the Path
Alumni
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