<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/3ba7ac13-8833-4e45-ab8d-0ac2964c9f00/BAA64345-0A4D-4026-8BAF-74F1DD0A78E3/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090830.html" href="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090830.html" style="font-size: 11px;">antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090830.html"><B> D. rad Bacteria: Candidate Astronauts </B></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090830.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/img/93774402-F102-401E-82E8-9981FCE362D6" alt="See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090830.html"><B></B> These bacteria could survive on another planet. In an Earth lab, <A href="http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast14dec99_1.htm">Deinococcus radiodurans</A> (D. rad) survive extreme levels of <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionizing_radiation">radiation</A>, extreme temperatures, <A href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000982.htm">dehydration</A>, and exposure to <A href="http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/glossary/genotoxic.html">genotoxic</A> chemicals. Amazingly, they even have the ability to repair their own <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA">DNA</A>, usually within 48 hours. Known as an <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremophile">extremophile</A>, <A href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/bacteria.html">bacteria</A> such as <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinococcus_radiodurans">D. rad</A> are of interest to <A href="http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/">NASA</A> partly because they might be adaptable to help human <A href="http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/">astronauts</A> survive on other worlds. A recent <A href="http://www.tigr.org/tigr-scripts/CMR2/GenomePage3.spl?database=gdr">map</A> of D. rad's <A href="http://www.umass.edu/molvis/tutorials/dna/">DNA</A> might allow biologists to augment their <A href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAxCFZw_A3I">survival skills</A> with the ability to produce medicine, clean water, and oxygen. Already they have been <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_engineering">genetically engineered</A> to <A href="http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/Bacteria-and-Viruses/Harnessing-Invisible-Power.html">help clean up spills</A> of toxic <A href="http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/80.html">mercury</A>. Likely one of the oldest surviving life forms, D. rad was discovered by accident in the 1950s when scientists investigating <A href="http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/">food preservation</A> techniques could not easily kill it. Pictured above, <A href="http://www.usuhs.mil/pat/deinococcus/index_20.htm">Deinococcus radiodurans</A> grow quietly in a dish. </blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/BAA64345-0A4D-4026-8BAF-74F1DD0A78E3/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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