MadSci Network: Microbiology |
Hi Joann (or Joanne?),
Thanks for your question. The short answer: microorganisms can live almost anywhere, so they will certainly be found in the mineral spring that you describe. Now for a more detailed answer.
First, let's convert the units that you gave to something more informative.
650 ppm sodium is 0.65 g l-1. The atomic mass of sodium is
about 23,
so that comes to 0.65/23 x 1000 = about 28 mM. Similarly for 1356 ppm
chloride
(atomic mass 35.5), we get 1.356/35.5 x 1000 = about 38 mM.
Neither of those is especially extreme. The archaeon Halobacterium
halobium
can grow happily at very high salinity: 4-5 M sodium chloride [1]. In the
lab,
bacteria are often grown in media which contain 5-10 g l-1 sodium
chloride. So the salinity in your spring will support the growth of many
microorganisms.
You quote a temperature of 104-106 °F. I assume that this is not a mistake and
you do mean Fahrenheit. I know that in the USA Fahrenheit is commonly used,
but in science we use either Celsius or Kelvin temperature units. To convert
Fahrenheit to Celsius we subtract 32 and multiple by 5/9, to give about 40-42
°C.
Again, this is not especially high. Many (but by no means all) microorganisms
grow best between about 30-40 °C. However, even if the temperature of the
spring were 104-106 °C, there are microorganisms which would be very happy
in there. They are called hyperthermophiles and many can grow well
above 100 °C [2].
Turning specifically to the amoeba N. fowleri: it is a moderate thermophile, able to reproduce up to about 46 °C [3], so spring temperature would be no problem. The growth media that I have seen for this amoeba often contain what's called Page's saline: 120 mg l-1 sodium chloride, 4 mg l-1 calcium chloride, 142 mg l-1 disodium hydrogen phosphate and 136 mg l-1 potassium dihydrogen phosphate. This is somewhat less saline than the spring water so depending on the tolerance of N. fowleri, might be a factor that limits growth. However, one study [4] shows that pathogenic N. fowleri are viable up to about 2% sodium chloride, so 650 ppm sodium is not likely to be a problem.
I hope that this helps with your question. For more information on amazing microbes just try "extremophiles" as a web search. Some good microbiology resources on the web are MicrobeWiki, Microbes.info and Microbe World.
Neil
References
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Microbiology.