But what are these manganese complexes? Manganese is a transitional model that is able to combine with different molecules, especially small metabolites like nucleosides, amino acids,and peptides, and aryl phosphates.
The atoms inside the cathode in that battery just move everywhere. The manganese goes over here. The cobalt goes over there.
And some of those examples I show here from some of our previous work, the stars that you see on the interior of each one of those manganese oxide stars is a tiny microorganism. And it causes the precipitation of that manganese oxide as a byproduct of using other oxidation states of manganese minerals to make its living.
In the case of resistant cells, they accumulate a lot of manganese , manganese -to-iron ratio. And these manganese forms complexes with small peptides and nucleosides inside the cell. And then it ends up quenching and scavenging the effects of these free radicals on the cells.
And the cells remain alive. But what are these manganese complexes? Manganese is a transitional model that is able to combine with different molecules, especially small metabolites like nucleosides, amino acids,
So this motivated us to go through extreme places on Earth, actually deserts, enriched in manganese , so combining the dessication factor and the manganese availability. So I've been through the Sonoran Desert in Arizona in a collaboration with a company called American Manganese .
And after a period of incubation, we isolated the colonies that grew after the largest doses and performed survival curves, characterized the extracellular and intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio through ICPMS and did some optical and electro-microscopy studies. So we were surprised to see high diversity on samples coming from the Atacama Desert compared to samples from the manganese mine in Arizona
So the cells needs need to have molecular mechanisms to uptake manganese from the environment. So the availability of manganese in the environment does not determine radiation resistance. But those that can accumulate high manganese -to-iron ratio, they will have a better chance to be radiation resistant.
of those manganese oxide stars is a tiny microorganism. And it causes the precipitation of that manganese oxide as a byproduct of using other oxidation states of manganese minerals to make its living. And it produces these characteristic things.
So the availability of manganese in the environment does not determine radiation resistance. But those that can accumulate high manganese -to-iron ratio, they will have a better chance to be radiation resistant. So then we did survival curves with the most radiation resistant ones.
I mean, why can't you just use lithium ion that we have right now? Try to put in more manganese .
being sensitive organisms, they have a low ratio between manganese and iron intracellularly. And the resistant ones has have high intraceullar manganese -to-iron ratio. And this suggested actually that maybe proteins also play-- the damage to proteins is also critical for recovery
complexes in human cells. We can see here human cells treated with manganese pyrophosphate is significantly more resistant than the known treated control. So this is a very interesting line of research that could benefit future astronauts going to Mars.
And the question we have is whether there are other biological models available in nature that we don't know yet. So maybe other organisms could accumulate higher levels of manganese , may have more efficient DNA repair, and may produce antioxidant secondary metabolites that are more higher level of these metabolites.
So we now have this microbiological culture collection with radiation-resistant organisms with different levels of radiation resistance. And then we looked into the extracellular and intracellular manganese ratio and compared to the survival of these organisms. So this graph shows that the extracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, the availability of these metals does not determine the survival of organisms
And this happens because the inputs, the uptake of manganese , occurs as an active mechanism. So the cells needs need to have molecular mechanisms to uptake manganese from the environment. So the availability of manganese in the environment does not determine radiation resistance.
There are other things being produced. And then they started to see that organisms that accumulate high manganese had these trend of being resistant to radiation.
So one of these factors, maybe the most important physiological factor that factor that contributes for radiation resistance, is the accumulation of manganese . Actually, it's the ratio between manganese intracellularly. This was demonstrated almost 12 years ago by the group of Michael Daly.
And these are the values for each one of these survival curves. If you transferred this to this graph here on the right and try to correlate with intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, you can see there is this general trend being sensitive organisms, they have a low ratio between manganese and iron intracellularly.
If you transferred this to this graph here on the right and try to correlate with intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, you can see there is this general trend being sensitive organisms, they have a low ratio between manganese and iron intracellularly. And the resistant ones has have high intraceullar manganese -to-iron ratio.
And the cell dies. In the case of resistant cells, they accumulate a lot of manganese , manganese -to-iron ratio. And these manganese forms complexes with small peptides and nucleosides inside the cell.
and the manganese availability. So I've been through the Sonoran Desert in Arizona in a collaboration with a company called American Manganese . They collaborated with providing soil to us.
and intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio through ICPMS and did some optical and electro-microscopy studies. So we were surprised to see high diversity on samples coming from the Atacama Desert compared to samples from the manganese mine in Arizona and also very low diversity of radiation resistant isolates from NASA Ames as expected.
And then we looked into the extracellular and intracellular manganese ratio and compared to the survival of these organisms. So this graph shows that the extracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, the availability of these metals does not determine the survival of organisms from this environment, but actually, the intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, there is a trend towards high intracellular manganese -to-iron
of these organisms. So this graph shows that the extracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, the availability of these metals does not determine the survival of organisms from this environment, but actually, the intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio, there is a trend towards high intracellular manganese -to-iron ratio and radiation resistance as was demonstrated by Michael Daly's group for laboratory strains using gamma irradiation.
which is UV-C radiation. And this happens because the inputs, the uptake of manganese , occurs as an active mechanism. So the cells needs need to have molecular mechanisms to uptake manganese from the environment.
There are other things being produced. And just in the past few years, that has been elucidated that these manganese complexes helps to protect the proteins against oxidation.
And to scale that up to the ocean is, well, quite frankly, impossible right now, although it's obviously an aspirational goal. But again, to go back to, for instance, the manganese , mining example, seafloor mining example, we really need resolution at the seafloor at that level to know what's out there, and there are vast areas where we just don't know that.
So clearly, there are physiological factors affecting radiation resistance. So one of these factors, maybe the most important physiological factor that factor that contributes for radiation resistance, is the accumulation of manganese . Actually, it's the ratio between manganese intracellularly.
And these complexes can then scavenge, protect, act like a shield against these small free radicals in the cell. And there are some research already being done by Michael Daly's group using these intracellular manganese complexes in human cells.
Or maybe these metabolites can be better applied to human cell lineages. So this motivated us to go through extreme places on Earth, actually deserts, enriched in manganese , so combining the dessication factor and the manganese availability.
Is that the material that's not maintaining its structure? It's the cathode. So in this case, they're using NMC, nickel manganese cobalt. It's pretty stable chemistry.
But when that happens, the cathode goes haywire. And the way that I explain this is-- the way of looking at this-- first, the thing that happens is that in that moment, those molecules-- the manganese especially, but the nickel too-- become unhappy in the slots where they are.