Scientists Find Life in
Rincon de la Vieja
Boiling Mud Pits
(InfoWebPress) As
incredible as it may
sound, a team of
researchers from the
University of Costa
Rica’s (UCR) Cellular
and Molecular Biology
Research Center (CIBCM)
has discovered in the
boiling mud pits (“pailas”)
of Guanacaste’s Rincon
de la Vieja Volcano a
unique organism that in
2004 was named Euglena
pailasensis, in
reference to the place
where it inhabits.
Euglena pailasensis is
found in highly acidic
mud that reaches between
40 and 98 degrees
Celsius, and which could
cause serious damage to
a person’s skin.
The organism belongs to
the Protozoa kingdom —
unicellular beings that
engage in
photosynthesis, just
like plants, to obtain
energy.
Euglena pailasensis’
chloroplasts (the sacks
that contain
chlorophyll, the
compound that makes
photosynthesis possible)
disappear where there
are cultured in the dark
and reappear when
cultured exposed to
light.
So far, a total of 30
Euglena species have
been identified. The
ones better known live
in fresh water and have
a flagellum that, used
as a whip, allows them
to swim.
However, and most likely
as a way to adapt to
life in the thick mud of
Rincon de la Vieja,
Euglena pailasensis has
lost such flagellum and
moves instead like a
snake.
In addition to this
organism, which is not
known to exist anywhere
else on Earth, CIBCM
scientists have
identified other life
forms in the pailas of
Rincon de la Vieja,
including some kinds of
bacteria.
Lorena Uribe, member of
the environmental
microbiology division of
CIBCM and who researched
Euglena pailasensis
along with Marielos Mora
and Ana Sittenfeld,
explained that the
discovery of this
organism is very
important both for
science and for
industry.
“Many industrial
processes take place at
high temperatures and
organism such as Euglena
pailasensis secrete
substances and enzymes
precisely at
temperatures similar to
those needed in such
production activities,”
Uribe pointed out.
By further researching
this organism, she said,
vital information could
be obtained to improve
manufacturing processes.
Studies on this organism
were done by collecting
samples of mud and green
patches from the surface
of the hot mud in one of
the pits, located in an
area of the volcano
known as Las Pailas de
Barro Caliente. Later
on, the samples were
isolated and cultured in
a mineral solution.
Moreover, a 0.1 ml
volume of the samples
was placed in cells
covered with a membrane
and observed through an
electron microscope. The
cells were mounted on
aluminum bases and
covered with a layer of
gold, and were studied
using special electron
microscopes.
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