Microbes from Hell

282 Pages·2016·4.13 MB·English

by  Patrick Forterre

Microbes from Hell

Microbes from Hell
Patrick Forterre
Translated by
Teresa Lavender Fagan
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
Originally published as Microbes de l’enfer by Patrick Forterre. © Editions Belin, 2007.
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 26582- 7 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 26596- 4 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226265964.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Forterre, Patrick, author. | Fagan, Teresa Lavender, translator.
Title: Microbes from hell / Patrick Forterre ; translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan.
Other titles: Microbes de l’enfer. English
Description: Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2016. | © 2016 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016009697 | ISBN 9780226265827 (cloth : alkaline paper) |
ISBN 9780226265964 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: Thermophilic microorganisms. | Microorganisms— Effect of heat on.
Classification: LCC QR84.8.F6713 2016 | DDC 579.3/17— dc23 LC record available at
http:// lccn .loc .gov /2016009697
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of
Paper).
Children of steam and scalded rock, a story you have to tell,
Writ in the glare of sunshine bright,
Sculptured and etched in marble white,
Illuminated in colors bold,
Richer than ever parchment old,
Children of steam and scalded rock, what is the story you have to tell?
Our legends are old, of greater age than the mountains round about.
We have kept our secrets epochs long,
They are not to be read by the passing throng.
It is nothing to us what men may say.
If they wish our story the price they must pay
In hard brain work, ere the tales are told. We challenge mankind to draw them out.
Children of steam and scalded rock, your challenge must rest for the present age.
I have scarcely broken the outer crust
That covers the greater truth, but I trust
Some man will follow and therein find
Knowledge, that to the Present shall bind
The Past with cords wherein entwine
Threads of the perfect truth, divine.
Children of steam and scalded rock, some man to come will accept thy gage.
A poem by Bradley Moore Davis, University of Chicago, published
in his 1897 paper in the journal Science and describing for the first time
microbes present in Yellowstone hot springs.
This book will tell you the story of those who “accept thy gage.”

Contents
Prologue 1
1 A Bit of History:
Microbes and Humans 6
2 Hunting Hyperthermophiles and Their Viruses:
From the Great Depths to the Laboratory 51
3 How Do You Live in Hell? 90
4 The Universal Tree of Life:
Where to Place Microbes from Hell and Their Viruses? 131
5 The Universal Tree of Life:
Are Microbes from Hell Our Ancestors? 181
Epilogue 228
Acknowledgments 231
Notes 233
References 247
Index 267

Prologue
The souls of the damned writhe in pain in the cauldrons of hell. Life appears
to be incompatible with the flames of Satan. Plunge a crab into a pot of boil-
ing water and it comes out cooked— but dead. Plunge your own finger in and
the pain is unbearable. It’s indisputable: even if we like heat, preferably in the
shade on a beach, we must stay within the limits of what is reasonable. And
yet, in the last thirty years, scientists have discovered microbes that thrive
in temperatures that exceed those of the hottest deserts in the world. These
creatures, whose existence is revealed only under a microscope, live in places
that humans have equated with the gateway to hell. They are found in Solfa-
tara, near Naples, Italy, which the ancient Greeks believed was the home of
Charon, whose boat transported the souls of the dead on their final voyage,
and in Iceland, the island where Jules Verne’s heroes journeyed to the center
of the earth. These microscopic single- celled organisms have telling names,
such as Acidianus infernus, which likes both “infernal” temperatures and ex-
treme acidity, or Pyrococcus abyssi, the “burning shell of the abyss.” These
are thermophile microbes (from the Greek therme, “heat,” and phylos, “that
which loves”). The most infernal among them have been baptized as “hyper-
thermophile” microbes because these amazing beings, which love the highest
temperatures, flourish only between 80 and 110°C and freeze below 70°C.
These microbes from hell, whose existence was unknown to scientists
until relatively recently, are today at the heart of particularly active research.
International meetings have been devoted to them every two years since 1990,
bringing together first dozens, then hundreds, of scientists from throughout
the world. Why such passion for living beings so different from us? Some
evolutionists believe that thermophile and hyperthermophile microbes can
teach us a lot about the way life appeared on our planet, at a time when it