Possible Processes for Origin of Life and Living Matter with Modeling of Physiological Processes of Bacterium Bacillus Subtilis as Model System in Heavy Water

Abstract

The physiological influence of deuterium on the Gram-positive chemoheterotrophic bacterium Bacillus subtilis, producer of inosine was studied on a heavy water (HW) medium with a maximal concentration of ²H₂O. With the use of IR-spectroscopy (DENS-method) were studied samples of hot mineral water and sea water derived from different sources of Bulgaria. There are presented the data on the growth and the adaptation of B. subtilis in highly deuterated growth media with 2% (w/w) hydrolysate of deuterated biomass of the methylotrophic bacterium Brevibacterium methylicum as a source of ²H-labeled growth substrates. It was studied the qualitative and quantitative composition of the cellular protein, amino acids and carbohydrates in the conditions of cellular adaptation to ²H₂O. The taxonomy of the studied bacterium and the ability for assimilation of carbon substrates was also analyzed on an evolutionary level. It was shown on the example of chemoheterotrophic bacteria that hot mineral water with pH = 9–11 is more suitable for maintenance and origin of life than other water samples.

Keywords: heavy water, adaptation, biosynthesis, Bacillus subtilis, hot mineral water, origin of life and living mater