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Waterfall Slime
● Anchored Life › Unknown

Waterfall Slime

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Anchored Life
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Unknown
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3
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  • Discoidea pneumakatechon. A pendulous slime of simple eukaryote cells which has expelled its own ability to breathe.
  • 1. Sulfide stress
  • A drop in oxygen levels and a rise in hydrogen sulfide has caused the slime to abandon oxygen-breathing life and return to a slower sulfur-based metabolism.
  • 2. Mitochondrial background
  • In complex Earth life, hydrogen sulfide poisons the cellular powerhouses called mitochondria. Most Protean cells have similar oxygen-burning compartments, though their origin is unknown. The cells of the waterfall slime have destroyed these compartments, accepting a 94% drop in metabolic efficiency in order to survive deoxygenation.
  • 3. Sulfide source
  • Hydrogen sulfide is produced by the decomposition of biomatter in oxygen-poor water. The waterfall slime's sulfur tolerance makes it a good indicator of mass death elsewhere in the biosphere.
  • Assessment: a poor sign for the long term survival of Protean oceans. Rising hydrogen sulfide levels after ocean deoxygenation played a role in Earth's Permian Extinction, which wiped out 95% of species on Earth.

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