Congratulations to undergraduate student Bryce Stoltz who received an Ohio Space Grant Consortium Scholarship in Fall 2024 to work with Dr. Courtney Wagner. In collaboration with Dr. David Singer, the three are searching for magnetotactic bacteria within acid mine drainage samples from Mineral City, Ohio.
Magnetotactic bacteria navigate along geomagnetic field lines using magnetic minerals, and these minerals can later be preserved as fossils. Acid mine drainages are potential Early Earth and Martian analog environments because they are harsh, acidic, and iron-rich. Genomic studies suggest that magnetotactic bacteria developed the ability to navigate magnetic field lines to escape harsh environmental conditions on Early Earth. Evidence also suggests that Mars had both water and a magnetic field, two requisites for magnetotactic bacteria to exist. As such, understanding the ecology and biomineralization processes of magnetotactic bacteria in modern ‘extreme’ environments can help us understand what life might have looked like on Early Earth and Mars. In other words, remnants of these charismatic magnetic fossils could provide direct evidence that life existed in these environments.