Felisa Wolfe-Simon

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Felisa Lauren Wolfe-Simon
US Geological Survey
Rutgers University

Felisa Wolfe-Simon is an American microbial geobiologist and biogeochemist. In 2010, Wolfe-Simon led a team that discovered GFAJ-1, an extremophile bacterium that they claimed was capable of substituting arsenic for a small percentage of its phosphorus to sustain its growth, thus advancing the remarkable possibility of non-RNA/DNA-based genetics.[1] However, these conclusions were immediately debated and criticized in correspondence to the original journal of publication,[2] and were widely disbelieved by scientists.[3] In 2012, two reports refuting the most significant aspects of the original results were published in the same journal in which the original findings had been previously published.[4][5]

Education and career

Wolfe-Simon did her undergraduate studies at

US Geological Survey and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute
.

Controversy

Wolfe-Simon's research focuses on evolutionary microbiology and exotic metabolic pathways. At a conference in 2008 and subsequent 2009 paper, Wolfe-Simon, Paul Davies and Ariel Anbar proposed that arsenate (AsO3−
4) could serve as a substitute for phosphate (PO3−
4) in various forms of biochemistry.[8][9] According to Paul Davies, Wolfe-Simon was the one who had the "critical insight" that arsenic might be able to substitute for phosphorus.[10] As late as March 2010, she had been hinting of some shadow biosphere results to the press.[11][12]

Wolfe-Simon processing mud at Mono Lake, 2010

Wolfe-Simon then led a search for such an organism by targeting the naturally occurring arsenic-rich

USGS group.[22]

The Science article "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus" appeared in the June 3, 2011 print version of Science;[1] it had remained on the "Publication ahead of print" ScienceXpress page for six months after acceptance for publication.

However, Rosemary Redfield and other researchers from the University of British Columbia and Princeton University performed studies in which they used a variety of different techniques to investigate the presence of arsenic in the DNA of GFAJ-1 and published their results in early 2012. The group found no detectable arsenic in the DNA of the bacterium. In addition, they found that arsenate did not help the strain grow when phosphate was limited, further suggesting that arsenate does not replace the role of phosphate.[23][24]

Following the publication of the articles challenging the conclusions of the original Science article first describing GFAJ-1, the website Retraction Watch argued that the original article should be retracted because of misrepresentation of critical data.[25][26] As of May 2022, no retraction can be found.

Recognition

In 2006 Wolfe-Simon was awarded a National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship[27] to support work done at Harvard University and Arizona State University.

See also

References

  1. ^
    PMID 21127214
    .
  2. doi:10.1126/science.1202098
    .
  3. ^ Drahl, C. The Arsenic-Based-Life Aftermath. Researchers challenge a sensational claim, while others revisit arsenic biochemistry, Chem Eng News 90(5), 42-47, January 30, 2012. http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i5/Arsenic-Based-Life-Aftermath.html; accessed 13 October 2012
  4. S2CID 20229329
    .
  5. PMID 22773140
    .
  6. ^ Wolfe-Simon F. "Wolfe-Simon - Who I Am". Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  7. ^ Wolfe-Simon, Felisa (2006). The Role and Evolution of Superoxide Dismutases in Algae (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
  8. S2CID 85221364
    .
  9. ^ Early life could have relied on 'arsenic DNA' 26 April 2008, Michael Reilly, New Scientist
  10. ^ "Discovery of new life put down to strong self-belief". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. December 3, 2010.
  11. ^ "The Times - UK News, World News and Opinion". timesonline.co.uk.
  12. ^ NASA – Astrobiology Magazine: "Searching for Alien Life, on Earth" October 2009
  13. ^ Alla Katsnelson. "Arsenic-eating microbe may redefine chemistry of life". Nature News.
  14. ^ Thriving on Arsenic Henry Bortman, Astrobiology Magazine, 2010-12-02
  15. Archive-It
    December 16, 2010
  16. ^ "Exclusive Interview: Discoverer of Arsenic Bacteria, in the Eye of the Storm". sciencemag.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-24.
  17. ^ NASA media advisory : M10-167 Archived 2012-01-28 at the Wayback Machine Nov. 29, 2010
  18. ^ Pennisi, Elizabeth. "Exclusive Interview: Discoverer of Arsenic Bacteria, in the Eye of the Storm". Science. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 21 December 2010. Zimmer, Carl (7 December 2010). "Scientists see fatal flaws in the NASA study of arsenic-based life". Slate. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
  19. ^ Backing off an arsenic-eating claim By Faye Flam, Dec. 17, 2010
  20. ^ Arsenic about face: NASA's arsenic debacle tells us a lot about what's wrong about the relationship between science, peer review and the media in the 21st century by Martin Robbins, 2010-12-08
  21. PMID 21636751
    .
  22. ^ "Scientist in a Strange Land". Popular Science. 18 March 2019.
  23. S2CID 211729481
    .
  24. PMID 22773140
    .
  25. ^ David Sanders (2012-07-09). "Despite refutation, Science arsenic life paper deserves retraction, scientist argues". Retraction Watch. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
  26. ^ Sanders, David (21 January 2021). "Why one biologist says it's not too late to retract the "arsenic life" paper".
  27. ^ "NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for 2005". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 8 August 2016.

External links

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