Skip to Main content Skip to Navigation
Journal articles

The search for traces of life: the protective effect of salt on biological macromolecules.

M. Tehei 1 Bruno Franzetti 1 M.-C. Maurel 2 J. Vergne 2 Codjo Hountondji 3 Giuseppe Zaccai 4, 1
1 IBS - UMR 5075 - Institut de biologie structurale
2 IJM (UMR_7592) - Institut Jacques Monod
3 BIOC - Laboratoire de Biochimie de l'Ecole polytechnique
4 ILL - Institut Laue-Langevin
Abstract : Trapping malate dehydrogenase from the extremely halophilic archaeon Haloarcula marismortui in "dry" salt crystals protects the enzyme against thermal denaturation. Similar protection was not observed for the homologous mesophilic enzyme. In the case of transfer RNA molecules, high salt concentration plays a protective role against thermal degradation allowing activity to be recovered. The results are discussed in the context of exploring the fate of cell-free biological macromolecules in the environment and that of orienting the search for traces of life in planetary exploration.
Document type :
Journal articles
Complete list of metadatas
https://hal-polytechnique.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00770922
Contributor : Denis Roura <>
Submitted on : Wednesday, January 9, 2013 - 12:39:25 PM
Last modification on : Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 4:12:03 PM

Links full text

istex

Identifiers

Collections

X-BIOCH | X | IJM | IBS | IBS-EAM | CNRS | UGA | CEA | CEA-DRF | X-DEP-BIO | IRIG | CEA-GRE | UNIV-PARIS7 | USPC | UNIV-PARIS | UP-SCIENCES

Citation

M. Tehei, Bruno Franzetti, M.-C. Maurel, J. Vergne, Codjo Hountondji, et al.. The search for traces of life: the protective effect of salt on biological macromolecules.. Extremophiles, Springer Verlag, 2002, 6 (5), pp.427-30. ⟨10.1007/s00792-002-0275-6⟩. ⟨hal-00770922⟩

Export

BibTeX TEI DC DCterms EndNote

Share

Metrics

Record views

750