Taq polymerase is such a stable enzyme that its activity is not destroyed by very hot temperatures. Later, purification of one of its enzymes, Taq DNA polymerase, in turn led to its use in a world-changing process. Scientists found that this bacterium can thrive in the laboratory, even in boiling water. The microbe was a bacterium, named by Brock Thermus aquaticus (or Taq). They took it from 73☌ Mushroom Pool, named long ago either for a plant growing in it or because the pool has the appearance of a mushroom. Brock and undergraduate assistant Hudson Freeze collected a tiny organism in 1966. Brock at Mushroom Pool A microbiologist who pioneered the collection of Yellowstone microbes is Thomas Brock of the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Many of the park’s thermal features are convenient to roads or maintained trails yet preserved in their natural state, in contrast to Iceland and New Zealand, where thermal features have been tapped for energy. Scientists discover an astounding variety of microorganisms in and around them. Yellowstone’s Role in Microbial ResearchĪ complete inventory by the Research Coordination Network of Montana State University found about 10,000 features of all types and sizes-hot springs, geysers, steaming vents called fumaroles, and mud pots. (Some day Boyd and his colleagues will have a similar microbial chart back to the beginning of life. Similarly, on road trips you may see signs telling about the different geologic ages you are passing through. He likens this work to what geologists do when they discover a region’s different geologic ages and formations. Boyd’s team and many other microbiologists and biochemists sample and analyze interactions between and among microbes from Yellowstone hot springs.īoyd traces microbes back through time to determine what evolutionary stages they have passed through. Yet a multitude of organisms do live in these very hot environments they are called thermophiles, and above 80☌, hyperthermophiles. Anywhere there is hot water from 73☌ to boiling, the life is not photosynthetic,” he told me. “We’re a big team with different research interests but focused on one theme: life that lives off the products of water-rock interactions. Boyd and his colleagues have recently begun to answer exactly what chemicals are involved and how microorganisms (also called microbes) can use them. That is, living things could convert chemicals in their environment via means other than the Sun’s radiant energy. “There was a period of time some 3 to 4 billion years ago when life was dependent on nonphotosynthetic forms of energy,” Boyd told me. The microscopic cells of bacteria that cause diseases in humans, other animals, and plants hold the attention of many microbiologists, but Boyd uses bacteria and archaea as agents of discovery, applying evolutionary tools to understand the metabolic processes that almost certainly supported the earliest forms of life on earth.

He “became mesmerized by the field of microbiology” as an undergrad at Iowa State University and has never looked back. Still, he willingly took the time to explain his research into the origin of life to an inquisitive reporter.īrought up in Iowa by parents whom he credits for ensuring their children got good educations, Boyd remembers visiting Yellowstone National Park as a 5-year-old and again in college. Eric’s long list of accomplishments includes receiving an NAI Postdoctoral Fellowship, a NASA Early Career Award, several awards for outstanding research, appointments to the editorial boards for three journals, and amassing a list of about 60 publications. In addition, he is an investigator in their Thermal Biology Institute and the NASA Astrobiology Institute’s (NAI) University of Wisconsin Astrobiology Research Consortium. He has appointments in both the Microbiology and Immunology and the Chemistry and Biochemistry Departments at Montana State University in Bozeman. Glancing at Eric Boyd’s CV, you can get an idea of how he used his PhD in microbiology to reach his assistant professor rank at the age of thirty-four. Foreground half of pool is covered with tiny globules of pure sulfur. Boyd at Cinder Pool, Norris Geyser Basin.

The sun origin quest