PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

B G Murzakov

Publications and source records attributed to B G Murzakov.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

[Radiometric study of the decarboxylating activity of desert soil microflora].

Employment of growth media containing salts of organic acids, labelled with 14C, gave a rapid and intensive signal concerning the decarboxylating activity of microorganisms from desert soils. The value of the signal was higher than that during the decomposition of uniformly labelled glucose. The results of these studies would help to select the optimal growth medium for carrying out exobiological experiments.

Bacteria

[Gas chromatographic study of broth cultures of microorganisms as a method of detecting extraterrestrial life].

The method of pyrolysis--gas chromatography was used to study the composition of cultural liquids obtained upon the incubation of desert soil samples in a rich growth medium. The composition of pyrolysis products was found to depend on the time of incubation. Cultural liquids differed in their composition from the original growth medium. This method is a dynamical one, and can be employed to control the activity of microorganisms.

Bacteriological Techniques

[Search for life on Mars].

The paper presents the data about the catalytic activity of several minerals from the Martian ground and of some laboratory analogues of the planet ground. It has been shown that it is possible to obtain unambigious data about life on Mars by using such methodological approaches which are based on biological principles of the determination of living matter. Microbiological methods for detection of extraterrestrial life should be preferred in future over biogeochemical methods which were used by the Viking stations.

Carbon Dioxide

[Possibility of the nonbiological binding of CO2 and CO by the components of Martian soil].

A mixture of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide was irradiated in the presence of limonite and hydrogen peroxide at 340 nm. As has been demonstrated by gas chromatography, chemical reactions occurring in this case yield organic compounds which could be synthesized in the experiments conducted by the Viking stations. Consequently, this method cannot discriminate between the chemical and biological processes which possibly accounted for positive signals registered in the experiments of the Viking stations.

Carbon Dioxide

[Effect of hydrogen peroxide and hydrated ferric oxides on the metabolism of soil microflora].

The effect of hydrogen peroxide and the mineral limonite on the rate of microbial processes was studied in poor and rich soils. The dynamics of CO2 evolution can be registered upon addition of hydrogen peroxide to chernozem samples, which confirms the existence of metabolism of soil microorganisms. In experiments with desert soil, the evolution of O2 increases rather than that of CO2, which is probably due to an increase in the number of microorganisms producing catalase. Limonite stimulates the metabolic activity of microrganisms. The cultural and morphological properties of microflora are described, which are typical of soils incubated in the presence of limonite and hydrogen peroxide. This work supports the conclusion that, theoretically, the ground of Mars may contain microorganisms which have adapted, in the course of evolution, to high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and hydrated iron oxides (of the limonite type) in the surrounding medium.

Bacteria

[Origin of the oxygen detected by the Viking stations in an analysis of Mars soil].

Reactions between the mineral limonite and hydrogen peroxide were studied and gases produced thereupon were analysed by gas chromatography. Oxygen did not evolve if limonite was added to hydrogen peroxide frozen at a temperature of dry ice. However, at room temperature, a vigorous chemical reaction occurred and a large amount of oxygen evolved. Apparently, the ground of Mars contains not only hydrated iron oxides but also frozen hydrogen peroxide whose thawing in the incubation chamber of Viking resulted in its catalytic degradation under the action of iron ions. The evidence thus obtained and its comparison with the data of American scientists account for considerable evolution of oxygen detected by Viking upon analysis of the Mars ground.

Chromatography, Gas

[Determination of carbon dioxide released from soil at different humidities].

The detection of soil microorganisms by their evolution of carbon dioxide does not always correlate with the number of microorganisms and the rate of biochemical processes in soil. New microbial populations appear in the incubation chamber as the concentration of carbon dioxide increases; this results in an increase in the activity of such processes as photosynthesis, chemosynthesis and heterotrophic assimilation of carbon dioxide. Life detection on other planets by determining carbon dioxide evolved from the ground may lead to erroneous conclusions on the presence of microorganism in the ground.

Carbon Dioxide

[Optimal conditions for determing ATP of microbial origin].

Endogenous luminescence of the luciferin-luciferase extract from firely tails was studied in determing low concentrations of ATP. The optimum concentration of the the extract, corresponding to the minumum effect of endogenous luminescence, was found in the reaction medium. The solution of luciferin-luciferase was unstable at room temperature and upon dilution. The activity of luciferin-luciferse solutions did not change after freezing in liquid nitrogen with following thawing. The content of ATP was assayed in the cells of Sarcina flava disintegrated with ultrasound.

Adenosine Triphosphate