Title:Yellowstone Microbe Discovery May Help Finally Explain the Origin of Life on Earth

Scientists think they might have found a vital clue to the mystery of how life on Earth began in the warm acidic waters at Yellowstone National Park. Living here are microbes called archaea, and studying their lineage may help us understand life on Earth—and perhaps what life may look like elsewhere in the universe.

科学家们认为，他们可能已经找到了一条重要线索，了解地球生命是如何在黄石国家公园的热酸水中开始的。这里生活的微生物被称为古人，研究它们的世系可以帮助我们了解地球上的生命，也许在宇宙的其他地方生命会是什么样子。

In a study published Tuesday in Nature Microbiology, researchers from Montana State University identified a new lineage, or grouping, of a type of microbe called archaea. The new archaeal lineage is named Marsarchaeota after the planet Mars, due to the microbe's ability to thrive in iron, the element that gives the planet its red coloring.

蒙大拿州立大学的研究人员在周二发表的《自然微生物学》研究中确定了一种被称为古埃及的微生物的新型谱系或组。由于微生物在铁中茁壮成长的能力，这种新的天体系被称为Marsarchaeota。

Archaea, bacteria and eukaryote—which includes humans and other complex creatures—are the three types of life-forms on Earth. Research suggests that archaea are a truly ancient life-form, perhaps the most ancient one on Earth. The team thinks that further studying the archaea found at Yellowstone will answer some questions scientists have about our evolutionary history.

考古学、细菌和真核生物是地球上的三种生命形式，研究表明古埃及是真正的古代生命形式，也许是地球上最古老的生命形式。研究小组认为，进一步研究在黄石发现的古河将回答科学家关于我们进化史的一些问题。

"The discovery of archaeal lineages is critical to our understanding of the universal tree of life and evolutionary history of the Earth," the group wrote, Phys.org reported. "Geochemically diverse thermal environments in Yellowstone National Park provide unprecedented opportunities for studying archaea in habitats that may represent [analogs] of early Earth."

该组织写到：“考古遗迹的发现对于我们理解地球生命之普遍树和地球进化史至关重要。"黄石国家公园的地质化学多样性热环境为研究可能代表早期地球[类似物]生境的古埃及提供了前所未有的机会。

The team identified two subgroups of Marsarchaeota, one that lives in water above 122 degrees and another that lives in water between 140 and 176 degrees. Both live in water with about the same acidity as grapefruit juice, Phys.org reported. The archaea require low levels of oxygen and do not produce iron but likely reduce the compound into a more simple form. According to study researcher William Inskeep, a professor of geomicrobiology in MSU's Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agriculture, this ability to recycle iron may have played an important role in the early Earth environment.

该小组确定了马萨里查奥塔的两个分组，一个分组生活在122摄氏度以上水中，另一个分组生活在140至176度之间的水中，两个分组的酸度与葡萄柚汁大致相同。古埃及需要低水平的氧气，不生产铁，但可能将化合物还原成更简单的形式。研究人员William Inspest称，美国科学院土地资源和环境科学系地理生物学教授William Inspest，这种回收铁的能力可能在早期地球环境中发挥重要作用。

The new find might also give us clues about what life on Mars could look like, because the archaea live in environments similar to those found on Mars's surface. The team will continue to study these tiny microbes in order to better understand what clues about the history of life—both here and elsewhere—they might hold.

新的发现可能给我们一些线索，说明火星上的生命会是什么样子，因为考古生物居住的环境与火星表面发现的环境相似。研究小组会继续研究这些微小的微生物，以便更好地理解这些微生物可能在这里和其它地方拥有什么样的生命史？