Taking the Concept to the Limit: Uncultivable Bacteria and Astrobiology

Abstract

Cultivating microbes is enough of a challenge when one knows they are there: the microbial world is rife with examples of bugs that are clearly growing in nature, yet seem to be uncultivable despite our best efforts. While many of these clearly cultivable “uncultivables” defy our efforts, as a group these microbes may provide some valuable clues and lessons for those who would venture into the world of the search for extraterrestrial life. That is to say, careful consideration of how one might recognize and/or cultivate ET organisms might yield some insights into the more realistic question of how to find and cultivate life in earthly habitats – after all, our ability to cultivate microbes that we can clearly see are capable of growth has been disappointing to say the least. Thus, an open-minded approach to why our own earthly efforts have yielded such limited success might well be used to formulate a strategy for the cultivation of ET life, and perhaps more importantly, to improve our efforts to cultivate life from our own planet. And incidentally, should we be so fortunate as to ever obtain uncontaminated extraterrestrial samples, we will be ready!