At least one single-cell organism could survive on Saturn’s moon Enceladus

A team of researchers found that there is at least one life form on Earth that likely would do just fine living under the presumed conditions on Enceladus. It’s a single-celled organism known as Methanothermococcus okinawensis that lives in hydrothermal vents more than 3,000 feet below sea level off the coast of Japan.

Based on the findings, it might be interesting to search for methanogenic biosignatures on icy moons in future space missions. Methanogens produce distinct and lasting biosignatures, in particular lipid biomarkers like ether lipids and isoprenoid hydrocarbons. Other potential biomarkers for methanogens are high-nickel (Ni) concentrations (and its stable isotopes), as Ni is e.g., part of methyl-coenzyme M reductase, the key enzyme of biological methanogenesis. However, both lipid biomarkers and Ni-based biosignatures are likely only to be identifiable at the site of biological methanogenesis, and the effect of dilution with increasing distance away from the methanogen habitat is likely to prevent their use as a general marker for biological methanogenesis in Enceladus’ plume or in a subsurface ocean. If, however, bubble scrubbing would occur, a process by which organic compounds and cells adhere to bubble surfaces and are carried away as bubbles rise, which was suggested to occur on Enceladus, the amount of bioorganic molecules and cells would be much higher and future lander missions could easily collect physical evidence for the presence of autotrophic, hydrogenotrophic methanogenic life on Enceladus.

Nature Communications – Biological methane production under putative Enceladus-like conditions

The detection of silica-rich dust particles, as an indication for ongoing hydrothermal activity, and the presence of water and organic molecules in the plume of Enceladus, have made Saturn’s icy moon a hot spot in the search for potential extraterrestrial life. Methanogenic archaea are among the organisms that could potentially thrive under the predicted conditions on Enceladus, considering that both molecular hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4) have been detected in the plume. Here we show that a methanogenic archaeon, Methanothermococcus okinawensis, can produce CH4 under physicochemical conditions extrapolated for Enceladus. Up to 72% carbon dioxide to CH4 conversion is reached at 50 bar in the presence of potential inhibitors. Furthermore, kinetic and thermodynamic computations of low-temperature serpentinization indicate that there may be sufficient H2 gas production to serve as a substrate for CH4 production on Enceladus. We conclude that some of the CH4 detected in the plume of Enceladus might, in principle, be produced by methanogens.