The press echo was huge. Catched me by surprise as well. Sounds interesting. A bacteria that can go without phosphor.
Turns out this is only half of the story. Many scientists critizised the paper and the main point of the paper seems to be not well proven. The bacteria most likely used phosphor during the experiments. The used soil was simply contaminated.
But: Nobody knows for sure as long as there are no reproductions.
Derek Lowe writes an excellent article about it: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/12/02/life_with_arsenic_whod_have_thought.php
But: Nobody knows for sure as long as there are no reproductions.
Derek Lowe writes an excellent article about it: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2010/12/02/life_with_arsenic_whod_have_thought.php
And Rosie Redfield sums it up:
http://rrresearch.blogspot.com/2010/12/arsenic-associated-bacteria-nasas.html
The original paper:
Wolfe-Simon F, Blum JS, Kulp TR, Gordon GW, Hoeft SE, Pett-Ridge J, Stolz JF, Webb SM, Weber PK, Davies PC, Anbar AD, & Oremland RS (2010). A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus. Science (New York, N.Y.) PMID: 21127214
Wolfe-Simon F, Blum JS, Kulp TR, Gordon GW, Hoeft SE, Pett-Ridge J, Stolz JF, Webb SM, Weber PK, Davies PC, Anbar AD, & Oremland RS (2010). A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus. Science (New York, N.Y.) PMID: 21127214