Ecosystem of one organism

Scientists have found a unique organism in the hot and dirty water of the South African gold mine, almost immediately baptized "the longest creature on the planet." And not without reason: the whole ecosystem that exists at a great depth consists of only one type of bacteria.

As we know, the existence of any elementary life form requires the fulfillment of several key requirements: the possibility of generating energy from external sources, the presence of carbon and nitrogen in the environment; These factors are common to most different microbial colonies. What the researchers found in the Mponeng mine, at a depth of more than 3 km, is Desulforudis audaxviator , which is itself capable of implementing all the mechanisms for maintaining the life of the colony and the normal functioning of the ecosystem. In other words, it is the densest "packing of life" on our planet.

Dylan Chivian, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, says that "this organism proves to the whole world that you can" pack "everything you need to support life in one genome."
')
All now known life forms require carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, as well as a source of energy in order to exist. Almost all plants need nitrogen, but they cannot take it and start fixing it from the surrounding atmosphere and using it to create the necessary amino acids (this is done by nitrogen-fixing bacteria and cyanobacteria ). Chains, like the one described, form the basis of an ecosystem.

What makes D. audaxviator so special is the genome, as it were, assembled together from bacterial and archaeal genes. What is interesting for us, ordinary citizens? The fact that this organism is the first candidate for participation in the experiment on the cultivation of earthly life forms under extreme conditions, we are talking, of course, about other planets.

In the picture: the genome of D. audaxviator.
Thank you: Wired