Investigations into an unknown organism on the martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001
Open accessAbstract
Abstract— Examination of fracture surfaces near the fusion crust of the martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 have been conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and has revealed structures strongly resembling mycelium. These structures were compared with similar structures found in Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities. On morphology alone, we conclude that these features are not only terrestrial in origin but probably belong to a member of the Actinomycetales, which we consider was introduced during the Antarctic residency of this meteorite. If true, this is the first documented account of terrestrial microbial activity within a meteorite from the Antarctic blue ice fields. These structures, however, do not bear any resemblance to those postulated to be martian biota, although they are a probable source of the organic contaminants previously reported in this meteorite.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A Search for Endogenous Amino Acids in Martian Meteorite ALH84001
Bada, J. L., Glavin, D. P., McDonald, G. D., & Becker, L. (1998) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.279.5349.362 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Jull, A. J. T., Courtney, C., Jeffrey, D. A., & Beck, J. W. (1998) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.279.5349.366 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 13
- CROSS T. AND GOODFELLOW M. (1973) Taxonomy and classification of the actinomycetes. In Actinomycetales: Characteristics and Practical Importance (eds. G. Sykes and F. A. Skinner), pp. 11-91. Academic Press, London, U.K. FRANZMANN P. D. AND ROHDE M. (1992) Characteristics of a novel anaerobic mycoplasma-like bacterium from Ace lake, Antarctica. Antarctic Science 4, 155-162. 19455100, 2000, 2, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2000.tb01772.x, Wiley Online Library on [18/08/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
- FRIEDMANN E. 1. (1994) Permafrost as Microbial Habitat. In Viable Microorganrsms rn Permafrost (ed. G. Gilichinsky), pp. 2 1-26, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia.
- GILICIIINSKY D. AND WAGENER S (1994). Microbial life in permafrost. In Vrable Microorganrsms rn Permafrost (ed. G. Gilichinsky), pp. 7-20. Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia.
- GOTTLIEB D. (1973) General considerations and implications of the actinomycetes. In Actinomycetales: Characteristrcs and Practical Importance (eds. G. Sykes and F. A. Skinner), pp. 1-9. Academic Press, London, U.K. SlTTlG M. (1988) Diversity and identification of Heterotrophs from antarctic rocks of the McMurdo dry valleys. Polarforschung 58, HOLT J. G., KRIEG N. R., SNEATH P. H. A., STALEY J T. AND WILLIAMS S. T., EDS. ( I 994) Bergey s Manual of Determrnative Bacterrology, 9th Ed. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
- IMSHENETSKY A. A. AND ABYZOV S. S (1970) Microbrological Investigatron of Meteorrtes. Lfe Out ofthe Earth and Its detection (in Russian), pp. 157-166. Academy Nauk, Moscow, Russia. Reviewed in
- Hoover R. B., Rozanov A. Y., Zhmur S. 1. and Golrlenko V. M. (1998) Further evidence of microfossils in carbonaceous chondrites. In Instruments, Me1hod.y and Mrssions for Astrobrology (ed. R. B. Hoover). Proceedings of the SPIE 3441, Bellingham, Washington, USA
- KAPPEN L. (1993) Environmental regulators of microbial activity in continental Antarctic lakes. In Antarctrc Microbiology (ed. E. I. Friedmann), pp. 433-490. Wiley-Liss Inc., New York, New York, IJSA.
- LACEY J. (1 988) Actrnomycetes as biodeteriogens and pollutants of the environment. In Actrnomycetes in Brotechnology (eds. M Goodfellow, S. T. Williams and M. Mordarski), pp. 359433. Academic Press, London, U.K. MAUTNER M. N., CONNER A. J , KILLHAM. K. AND DEAMER. D. (1997) Biological potential of extraterrestrial materials 2. Microbial and Dlant
- NlENOW J. A. AND FRIEDMA" E. 1. (1993) Terrestrial lithophytic communities. In Antarctic Microbrology (ed. E. 1. Friedmann), pp. 343-350.
- VISHNIAC H. S (1993). Terrestrial lithophytic communities. In Antarctic Microbrology (ed. E. 1. Friedmann), pp. 297-342. Wiley-Liss Inc., New York, New York, USA.
- WILLIAMS S. T., SHARPLES G. P. AND BRADSHAW R. M. (1973) The fine structure of actinomycetes. In Actrnomycetules: Characterrstrcs and Practrcal Importance (eds. G. Sykes and F. A. Skinner), pp. 113-127.
- Academic Press, London, U.K. WYNN-WILLIAMS D. D. (1996) Antarctic microbial diversity: The basis of polar ecosystem processes. Biodiversity and Conservation 5, 129,245-253.
- ROMANEK c. s., CLEMETT s. J., CHILLIER X. D. F., MAECHLING C. R. RUSSELLN. C., EDWARDS H. G. M. AND WYNN-WILLIAMS D D. (1998) FT- 1271-1294. 19455100, 2000, 2, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2000.tb01772.x, Wiley Online Library on [18/08/2026]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Steele, A., Fries, M. D., Amundsen, H. E. F., Mysen, B. O., Fogel, M. L., Schweizer, M., & Boctor, N. Z. (2007) · Meteoritics & Planetary Science · doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb00590.x · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Steele, A., Goddard, D. T., Stapleton, D., Toporski, J. K. W., Peters, V., Bassinger, V., Sharples, G., Wynn‐Williams, D. D., & Mckay, D. S.
- Affiliations
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US)
- British Nuclear Fuel Limited (United Kingdom) (GB)
- University of Portsmouth (GB)
- Liverpool John Moores University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Steele, Andrew
- Venue
- Meteoritics & Planetary Science
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2000-03
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 237-241
- ISSN
- 1086-9379 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-5100
- OpenAlex
- W2041196144
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 4.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Meteoritics and Planetary Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NERC Open Research Archive (Natural Environment Research Council) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Portsmouth
- University of Central Lancashire
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Keywords
- Allan Hills 84001, Martian meteorites, actinomycetes, terrestrial contamination, fusion crust, organic pollutants
- MeSH terms
- Actinomycetales, Antarctic Regions, Cold Climate, Environmental Microbiology, Fossils, Microscopy, Electron, Scanning, Mars, Exobiology, Meteoroids
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
