Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA.
Astrobiology. 2011 Sep;11(7):601-18. doi: 10.1089/ast.2010.0562. Epub 2011 Aug 31.
Lava caves contain a wealth of yellow, white, pink, tan, and gold-colored microbial mats; but in addition to these clearly biological mats, there are many secondary mineral deposits that are nonbiological in appearance. Secondary mineral deposits examined include an amorphous copper-silicate deposit (Hawai'i) that is blue-green in color and contains reticulated and fuzzy filament morphologies. In the Azores, lava tubes contain iron-oxide formations, a soft ooze-like coating, and pink hexagons on basaltic glass, while gold-colored deposits are found in lava caves in New Mexico and Hawai'i. A combination of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and molecular techniques was used to analyze these communities. Molecular analyses of the microbial mats and secondary mineral deposits revealed a community that contains 14 phyla of bacteria across three locations: the Azores, New Mexico, and Hawai'i. Similarities exist between bacterial phyla found in microbial mats and secondary minerals, but marked differences also occur, such as the lack of Actinobacteria in two-thirds of the secondary mineral deposits. The discovery that such deposits contain abundant life can help guide our detection of life on extraterrestrial bodies.
熔岩洞穴中蕴藏着丰富的黄色、白色、粉色、棕褐色和金色微生物垫，但除了这些明显的生物垫外，还有许多外观上是非生物的次生矿物沉积物。检查过的次生矿物沉积物包括无定形的铜硅酸盐沉积物（夏威夷），呈蓝绿色，含有网状和模糊丝状形态。在亚速尔群岛，熔岩管中含有氧化铁形成物、软糊状涂层和玄武玻璃上的粉红色六边形，而在新墨西哥州和夏威夷的熔岩洞穴中则发现了金色沉积物。扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 和分子技术的组合用于分析这些群落。对微生物垫和次生矿物沉积物的分子分析揭示了一个在三个地点（亚速尔群岛、新墨西哥州和夏威夷）存在 14 个门的细菌群落。在微生物垫和次生矿物中发现的细菌门之间存在相似性，但也存在明显的差异，例如三分之二的次生矿物沉积物中缺乏放线菌。发现这些沉积物中含有丰富的生命，可以帮助指导我们在外层空间探测生命。
