[Undertoad]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...obe/56098788/1

Discovery of an arsenic-friendly microbe refuted

The discovery of an arsenic-loving microbe that NASA said would rewrite biology textbooks and offered hope of life on other planets now looks like a case study in how science corrects its mistakes, researchers report.
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In the new studies, one headed by Julia Vorholt of Switzerland's ETH Zurich university and the other by Rosemary Redfield of Canada's University of British Columbia, researchers tested the bug, provided by Wolfe-Simon and colleagues, and both found that while it can survive amid high arsenic concentrations, it needs some low level of phosphorus to grow. Further, they found the bug did not incorporate arsenic into its genetic chemistry.

The "new research shows that GFAJ-1 does not break the long-held rules of life," says the editorial statement by Science. The bacteria, "is likely adept at scavenging phosphate under harsh conditions, which would help to explain why it can grow even when arsenic is present within the cells," it says.