Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35896693›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2022

Contamination analysis of Arctic ice samples as planetary field analogs and implications for future life-detection missions to Europa and Enceladus.

Lígia F Coelho, Marie-Amélie Blais, Alex Matveev, Tina Keller-Costa, Warwick F Vincent, Rodrigo Costa, Zita Martins, João Canário

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Lígia F CoelhoDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Centro de Química Estrutural, Institute of Molecular Sciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0001-5008-1249
Marie-Amélie BlaisCentre for Northern Studies (CEN), Université Laval, Québec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-7649-1964
Alex MatveevCentre for Northern Studies (CEN), Université Laval, Québec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.ORCID 0000-0003-4103-9131
Tina Keller-CostaInstitute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0003-3702-9192
Warwick F VincentCentre for Northern Studies (CEN), Université Laval, Québec City, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.ORCID 0000-0001-9055-1938
Rodrigo CostaInstitute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-5932-4101
Zita MartinsDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Centro de Química Estrutural, Institute of Molecular Sciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal. zita.martins@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.ORCID 0000-0002-5420-1081
João CanárioDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Centro de Química Estrutural, Institute of Molecular Sciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal. joao.canario@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.ORCID 0000-0002-5190-446X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Missions to detect extraterrestrial life are being designed to visit Europa and Enceladus in the next decades. The contact between the mission payload and the habitable subsurface of these satellites involves significant risk of forward contamination. The standardization of protocols to decontaminate ice cores from planetary field analogs of icy moons, and monitor the contamination in downstream analysis, has a direct application for developing clean approaches crucial to life detection missions in these satellites. Here we developed a comprehensive protocol that can be used to monitor and minimize the contamination of Arctic ice cores in processing and downstream analysis. We physically removed the exterior layers of ice cores to minimize bioburden from sampling. To monitor contamination, we constructed artificial controls and applied culture-dependent and culture-independent techniques such as 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We identified 13 bacterial contaminants, including a radioresistant species. This protocol decreases the contamination risk, provides quantitative and qualitative information about contamination agents, and allows validation of the results obtained. This study highlights the importance of decreasing and evaluating prokaryotic contamination in the processing of polar ice cores, including in their use as analogs of Europa and Enceladus.

Indexed as

Extraterrestrial EnvironmentJupiterExobiologyPlanetsRNA, Ribosomal, 16SRNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Identifiers

PMID35896693
PMCPMC9329357

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.