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Science 7 November 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5647, pp. 1018 - 1021
DOI: 10.1126/science.1089143
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Reports

Mars-Like Soils in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and the Dry Limit of Microbial Life

Rafael Navarro-González,1,2* Fred A. Rainey,3 Paola Molina,1 Danielle R. Bagaley,3 Becky J. Hollen,3 José de la Rosa,1 Alanna M. Small,3 Richard C. Quinn,4,5 Frank J. Grunthaner,6 Luis Cáceres,7 Benito Gomez-Silva,8 Christopher P. McKay5

The Viking missions showed the martian soil to be lifeless and depleted in organic material and indicated the presence of one or more reactive oxidants. Here we report the presence of Mars-like soils in the extreme arid region of the Atacama Desert. Samples from this region had organic species only at trace levels and extremely low levels of culturable bacteria. Two samples from the extreme arid region were tested for DNA and none was recovered. Incubation experiments, patterned after the Viking labeled-release experiment but with separate biological and nonbiological isomers, show active decomposition of organic species in these soils by nonbiological processes.

1 Laboratorio de Química de Plasmas y Estudios Planetarios, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Apartado Postal 70-543, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico.
2 Laboratoire Inter-Universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, Unité Mixte de Recherche CNRS 7583, Universités Paris 12 et Paris 7, 61 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, F 94010 Créteil Cedex, France.
3 Department of Biological Sciences, 202 Life Sciences Building, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
4 SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035–1000, USA.
5 Space Science Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035–1000, USA.
6 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
7 Instituto del Desierto y Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Antofagasta, Post Office Box 170, Antofagasta, Chile.
8 Instituto del Desierto y Unidad de Bioquímica, Departamento Biomédico, Facultad Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Antofagasta, Post Office Box 170, Antofagasta, Chile.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: navarro{at}nuclecu.unam.mx

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