{"id":38686,"date":"2024-01-16T17:03:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2"},"modified":"2024-01-17T19:32:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T19:32:53","slug":"mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2","title":{"rendered":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red planet, the dusty desert isn\u2019t lifeless, as researchers using state-of-the-art equipment have discovered.<\/p>\n

Fascinating fragments of DNA from a blend of microbes have been found by researchers in the Atacama Desert, Chile.<\/p>\n

But what makes the discovery special is that nine percent of the genetic fragment concoction belongs to organisms \u201cunknown to science,\u201d according to a report published in the journal Nature Communications.<\/p>\n

These organisms are part of the so-called \u201cdark microbiome\u201d \u2013 bacteria \u201cso strange and different\u201d that the researchers could not determine what they were related to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn almost half of the cases, the databases could not clearly say what we had in our hands,\u201d microbiologist at the Center of Astrobiology in Madrid and lead researcher Armando Azua-Bustos was cited as saying.<\/p>\n

The researcher believed that this puzzling genetic material hailed from life forms long extinct and, accordingly, was never documented.<\/p>\n

While the research is to be continued, importantly, the Atacama findings feed into the ongoing quest for traces of alien life on Mars. The study shows that certain amounts of biological traces can be gleaned from even such an arid environment as the Atacama Desert, so the dry rocks on Mars may yet bring breakthroughs.<\/p>\n

Tailored to identify potentially habitable environments, missions like the Mars Exploration Rovers, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), and Mars2020 zoomed in on sites with geomorphological evidence hinting at ancient rivers and lakes on the red planet. In the Atacama Desert, the Red Stone site used to be a river delta over 100 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the planet. The site echoes a plateau on Mars within the Jezero Crater that the Perseverance is exploring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there are things to detect,\u201d Azua-Bustos said, adding that the best possible, advanced laboratory instruments on Earth would probe the mysteries of Martian soil samples dug up by the Perseverance rover.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red planet, the dusty desert isn\u2019t lifeless, as researchers using state-of-the-art equipment have discovered. Fascinating fragments of DNA from a blend of microbes have been found by researchers in the Atacama Desert, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[233,245,241],"class_list":["post-38686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nMystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red pla ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red pla ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-16T17:03:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-17T19:32:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-16T17:03:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-17T19:32:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\"},\"wordCount\":352,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\",\"name\":\"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert - Mauritius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-16T17:03:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-17T19:32:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red pla ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":810,\"caption\":\"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/\",\"name\":\"Mauritius\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert - Mauritius","description":"Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red pla ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert","og_description":"Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red pla ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2","og_site_name":"Mauritius","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-01-16T17:03:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-17T19:32:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":810,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert","datePublished":"2024-01-16T17:03:20+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-17T19:32:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2"},"wordCount":352,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Mauritius","Mauritius"],"articleSection":["all news","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2","name":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert - Mauritius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-16T17:03:20+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-17T19:32:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, one of the most arid places on the planet, in some places resembles Mars. But unlike the red pla ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2024\/01\/sm_1705413823.202042.jpg","width":1440,"height":810,"caption":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/mystery-dna-of-organisms-unknown-to-science-found-in-chiles-atacama-desert-2#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mystery DNA of Organisms \u2018Unknown to Science\u2019 Found in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/","name":"Mauritius","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}