New Extremeophiles: living on electrons (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, December 31, 2016, 13:09 (2672 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Actually true and they produce enzymes to help the process. They are not fully understood, but studies are commencing:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160621-electron-eating-microbes-found-in-odd-places/?u...

QUOTE: "Though eating electricity seems bizarre, the flow of current is central to life. All organisms require a source of electrons to make and store energy. They must also be able to shed electrons once their job is done. In describing this bare-bones view of life, Nobel Prize-winning physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi once said, “Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest.”
"Humans and many other organisms get electrons from food and expel them with our breath."

David’s comment: Since this form of life is so poorly understood so far, it is hard to predict how these organisms might relate to the origin of life, but they certainly could open up a whole new approach of study. Hopefully they can be grown in larger numbers in labs and studies much more closely.

Once again, thank you for another fascinating insight into how these more primitive forms of life actually function. The only thing I would add to your comment – a point which relates to the theistic side of my thinking – is the fact that even if these microorganisms do help us to understand the beginnings of life, they do not help us to understand evolution, i.e. the process by which they could ultimately turn into whales, butterflies, weaverbirds and humans.