Life without water

[Nashy19]

Ok it's just a Science question really.

Do we know of types of life that can live without water on this planet (if so, what types)? and would it be possible for another substance to be the requirement for life on another planet?

I saw something on TV when I was younger looking at a planet that was suspected to have vegetation being sustained by a liquid which wasn't water, but it was too long ago to remember.

 

[IBSpify]

To my knowledge there is no known life form on this planet that can survive without water.

However that in no way means that life can not exist without water, just as there is no reason why extraterrestrial life needs to have the same requirements for life that we have.

 

[Ozymandyus]

There isn't any life that lives without water at all on this planet. Some can survive (not be destroyed) in a waterless environment for some amount of time (up to a decade or more for some bacteria) - but none actively metabolize in this state: they go into a sort of hibernation.

There is certainly a possibility that some other polar molecule could play the part of water to support life, but water is so abundant in the universe that it is very likely to be part of any life even on other planets.

 

[Pulsar]

Well, apparently there are some badass bacteria that survive and grow in heavy oil and natural asphalt. They can break down petroleum products, and require no water and little or no oxygen. They probably evolved from 'normal' soil microorganisms. Here's an article about it.

I saw something on TV when I was younger looking at a planet that was suspected to have vegetation being sustained by a liquid which wasn't water, but it was too long ago to remember.

Probably Titan, which has lakes of ethane and methane. No signs of life yet, though.

 

[Ozymandyus]

Hmm, hadn't heard about these little critters. Guess I've been out of school a year or two too long.

Still, I can't find any scientific articles about how they function really... The ability of enzymes and dna to function without a polar solvent is hard for me to wrap my mind around. Certainly it would be a very different sort of cell than the ones we know... I'm certainly interested.

 

[MachineSp1rit]

if it exists probably it should use entirely different inheritance material, just a guess, but yes, it is possible.

 

[diagoras54]

Life in general is based on simple chemical processes, and all that's for them to take place is a fluid in which the chemicals can interact. That could even be a gas, which could produce organisms akin to those postulated by Carl Sagan living in the atmosphere of Jupiter.

 

[Trigshot]

In theory, I would suppose that life may be able to live without water, but for the most part I think the chemical properties of water give it the signature of "fuel for life." It is likely where life first arose, and its the same thing that we cannot live without.

I think that likely the oxygen in water is what gives it such conducive properties to life. As we have observed, oxygen served as fuel for the animal kingdom. As plants dominated the earth, the supply of oxygen was overwhelming, while the other supply of fuel, carbon dioxide, which also contains oxygen, was diminishing. Therefore, when primitive life that could live on oxygen developed, the Earth became a breeding ground for such prosperous little creatures.

Yes, I think that other fluids, or even gases may allow life, but water is a far more likely source.

 

[diagoras54]

In theory, I would suppose that life may be able to live without water, but for the most part I think the chemical properties of water give it the signature of "fuel for life." It is likely where life first arose, and its the same thing that we cannot live without.

I think that likely the oxygen in water is what gives it such conducive properties to life. As we have observed, oxygen served as fuel for the animal kingdom. As plants dominated the earth, the supply of oxygen was overwhelming, while the other supply of fuel, carbon dioxide, which also contains oxygen, was diminishing. Therefore, when primitive life that could live on oxygen developed, the Earth became a breeding ground for such prosperous little creatures.

Yes, I think that other fluids, or even gases may allow life, but water is a far more likely source.

Agreed; water is much more stable and has some interesting unique properties that make it much more conducive for life. However, your example of carbon dioxide and oxygen demonstrates how the ideal need not be the only case: early life forms arose in an anaerobic environment and released oxygen as a result of photosynthesis, and oxygen allowed for much more rapid growth and reproduction than was possible before. Animals were able to diversify and spread so rapidly because of the use of oxygen, but it's by no means necessary for life. Likewise, water might be the ideal fluid, but it isn't required.

 

[JRChadwick]

Well, apparently there are some badass bacteria that survive and grow in heavy oil and natural asphalt. They can break down petroleum products, and require no water and little or no oxygen. They probably evolved from 'normal' soil microorganisms. Here's an article about it.

Life as we no it is based on water do to water's unique electromagnetic properties which make it an ideal medium for many chemical reactions.

I would be interested to learn how these creatures go through the process of mitosis. Do they have a mitotic apparatus?

 

[Mazzerkhan]

Methane has been potulated as an onrganic solvent that life could be based on.

 

[felixthecoach]

I'm pretty sure there are some bacteria on earth that survive without water. I'm busy right now, but there was an article about some bacteria in a cave that was non-water based. Some cave guys broke open a wall and they seeped into the cave.

 

[Pulsar]

I would be interested to learn how these creatures go through the process of mitosis. Do they have a mitotic apparatus?

That's a good question. I could only find this:

The ancestors of these bacteria probably lived in animals and plants that decomposed into oil millions of years ago. As the oil rose up through the soil, so did the bacteria.

The bacteria that Crowley and Kim found could be direct descendants of ancient bacteria. But they also might have more recently mated with younger bacteria in the loamy sand near the surface.

I can't find more on this. Is there a mircobiologist in the LoR?

 

[JRChadwick]

We need AronRa and DonExodus2!

 

[Spase]

For... a lot more detail than most people probably want there is the paper published by the guy quoted in the article you linked:

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=17416692

Also there looked like there were some interesting papers about the subject listed in the paper's references...

I read... well, a decent portion of the paper and I wasn't seeing anything explaining about how survival without water is really.. possible. The idea strikes me as truly bizarre. a few lines made me a bit skeptical of the no water thing. they're definitely mostly anaerobic (no oxygen) though.

This is part of what makes me wonder about the no water thing:

Cultivation.
Culturable bacteria were isolated by serial dilutions of water suspensions of asphalt-soil mixtures on agar plates containing DSMZ medium 371 amended with 20% NaCl and 10% tryptic soy agar and M9 minimum medium. The plates were incubated at 28,°C for 2 to 3 weeks, after which individual isolates were transferred and processed for sequencing of 16S rRNA gene sequences. Isolates were placed in glycerol medium and transferred to a −80,°C freezer for long-term preservation. Bacterial isolates were tested on agar medium with 1% asphalt as a sole carbon source.

That's a description of the medium they're growing some of these cells on. Also in the paper they talk about the asphalt-soil matrix the bacteria live in suggesting (at least to me) that there may be moisture in the environment...

On the other hand, this is not my field. If this was about genetics my opinion would be informed. As it is, I'll just link this and see if someone else gets more out of it than I did.

 

[Dr.PEARList]

if i recall right procaryote cells live without water, or at least some of them.

 

[COMMUNIST FLISK]

Methane has been potulated as an onrganic solvent that life could be based on.

methane, however, is not polar and does not undergo enough of the correct reactions to be a good medium

 

[TheInquisitor]

The Steven Baxter novel "Titan" involves the discovery of life on Titan. Since water is a solid at the temperatures there, a chemistry based on ammonia and organic compounds like ethane. It's been a while since I read it so I don't recall the details very well.

Another possibility is of course artificial life. A biological lifeform could engineer machine intelligence that reproduces itself, which could be called a form of life. Such a lifeform would probably be able to outlive it's creators and travel the stars more effectively. Perhaps this will be our ultimate legacy.