Felisa Wolfe-Simon

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 have since come to be widely disbelieved.[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]

Felisa Lauren Wolfe-Simon
Wolfe-Simon at the 2011 Time 100 gala
Born
Felisa Lauren Wolfe
Alma materRutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (Ph.D.)
Oberlin College (B.A.)
Oberlin Conservatory of Music (B.M.)
Known forGFAJ-1 bacterium
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Microbiology
Astrobiology
Geochemistry
Geomicrobiology
Oceanography
InstitutionsLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
NASA Astrobiology Institute
US Geological Survey
Rutgers University

Education and career

Wolfe-Simon did her undergraduate studies at Oberlin College and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Chemistry and a Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance and Ethnomusicology at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.[6] She received her Doctor of Philosophy in oceanography from the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University in 2006 with a dissertation titled The Role and Evolution of Superoxide Dismutases in Algae.[7] Later Wolfe-Simon was a NASA research fellow in residence at the 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 Mono Lake, California. This search led to the discovery of the bacterium GFAJ-1, which her team claimed in a Science on-line article in December 2010 was able to incorporate arsenate as a substitute for a small percentage of the typical phosphate in its DNA and other essential biomolecules.[1] If correct, this would be the only known organism to be capable of replacing phosphorus in its DNA and other vital biochemical functions.[13][14][15] The Science publication and an hour-long December 2, 2010 NASA news conference were publicized and led to "wild speculations on the Web about extraterrestrial life".[16] Wolfe-Simon was the only one of the paper's authors at that news conference.[17] The news conference was promptly met with criticism by scientists and journalists.[18] In the following month, Wolfe-Simon (and her co-authors and NASA) responded to criticisms through an online FAQ and an exclusive interview with a Science reporter, but also announced they would not respond further outside scientific peer-review.[19][20] Wolfe-Simon left USGS in May 2011.[21] Wolfe-Simon maintains she did not leave voluntarily, but was "effectively evicted" from the 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 the strain did not grow in the presence of arsenate, further supporting the absence of the element and its lack of participation in essential biological processes.[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 December 2019, no retraction had been announced.[27]

Recognition

In 2006 Wolfe-Simon was awarded a National Science Foundation Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship[28] to support work done at Harvard University and Arizona State University. In 2010, she received a Kavli Fellowship from the United States National Academy of Sciences.

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See also

References
  1. Wolfe-Simon, F.; Blum, J. S.; Kulp, T. R.; Gordon, G. W.; Hoeft, S. E.; Pett-Ridge, J.; Stolz, J. F.; Webb, S. M.; Weber, P. K.; Davies, P. C. W.; Anbar, A. D.; Oremland, R. S. (2010). "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus". Science. 332 (6034): 1163–1166. Bibcode:2011Sci...332.1163W. doi:10.1126/science.1197258. PMID 21127214.
  2. Wolfe-Simon, F.; Blum, J. S.; Kulp, T. R.; Gordon, G. W.; Hoeft, S. E.; Pett-Ridge, J.; Stolz, J. F.; Webb, S. M.; Weber, P. K.; Davies, P. C. W.; Anbar, A. D.; Oremland, R. S. (27 May 2011). "Response to Comments on "A Bacterium That Can Grow Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus"". Science. 332 (6034): 1149. Bibcode:2011Sci...332.1149W. 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. Erb, T. J.; Kiefer, P.; Hattendorf, B.; Gunther, D.; Vorholt, J. A. (2012). "GFAJ-1 Is an Arsenate-Resistant, Phosphate-Dependent Organism". Science. 337 (6093): 467–470. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..467E. doi:10.1126/science.1218455. PMID 22773139.
  5. Reaves, M. L.; Sinha, S.; Rabinowitz, J. D.; Kruglyak, L.; Redfield, R. J. (2012). "Absence of Detectable Arsenate in DNA from Arsenate-Grown GFAJ-1 Cells". Science. 337 (6093): 470–473. arXiv:1201.6643. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..470R. doi:10.1126/science.1219861. PMC 3845625. 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. Wolfe-Simon, Felisa; Paul C.W. Davies & Ariel D. Anbar (2009). "Did Nature Also Choose Arsenic?". International Journal of Astrobiology. 8 (2): 69–74. Bibcode:2009IJAsB...8...69W. doi:10.1017/S1473550408004394.
  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". 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. Response to Questions Concerning the Science Article Archived 2011-03-07 at WebCite 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 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. Pennisi, E. (2011). "Concerns About Arsenic-Laden Bacterium Aired". Science. 332 (6034): 1136–1137. Bibcode:2011Sci...332.1136P. doi:10.1126/science.332.6034.1136. PMID 21636751.
  22. "Scientist in a Strange Land". Popular Science.
  23. Hayden, Erika Check (January 20, 2012). "Study challenges existence of arsenic-based life". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.9861.
  24. Reaves, M. L.; Sinha, S.; Rabinowitz, J. D.; Kruglyak, L.; Redfield, R. J. (2012). "Absence of detectable arsenate in DNA from arsenate-grown GFAJ-1 cells". Science. 337 (6093): 470–3. arXiv:1201.6643. Bibcode:2012Sci...337..470R. doi:10.1126/science.1219861. PMC 3845625. PMID 22773140.
  25. Sanders, David (2012-07-09). "Despite refutation, Science arsenic life paper deserves retraction, scientist argues". Retraction Watch.
  26. World Archipelago. "Blog". periodicplayground.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29.
  27. Wolfe-Simon, Felisa; Blum, Jodi Switzer; Kulp, Thomas R.; Gordon, Gwyneth W.; Hoeft, Shelley E.; Pett-Ridge, Jennifer; Stolz, John F.; Webb, Samuel M.; Weber, Peter K.; Davies, Paul C. W.; Anbar, Ariel D.; Oremland, Ronald S. (3 June 2011). "A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus". Science. 332 (6034): 1163–1166. Bibcode:2011Sci...332.1163W. doi:10.1126/science.1197258. PMID 21127214.
  28. "NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for 2005". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
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