BOOKS & ARTS COMMENT

2009) places the origins of the Industrial EXTR EM O P H I L ES

Life at the deep end

Revolution in the British Midlands in
the eighteenth and early nineteenth cen-
turies. In Allen’s view, the only route to
modern economic growth required an
array of elements never seen together
before in Britain. Among them were Sonja-Verena Albers reviews a riveting chronicle
high, imperialism-driven wages; cheap tracing the discovery of archaea.
coal next to an ample canal network; and
an open trading network allowing for a

I
vast expansion of textile exports. . n Microbes from Hell, molecular biologist philes can grow at such high temperatures.
There are other well-argued views. Patrick Forterre narrates the intriguing One theory is that the enzyme is important
Michael Kremer holds that the roots of history of the discovery of archaea, sin- in sensing unpaired regions in hyperthermo-
economic growth lie in the drift of the gle-celled microorganisms with no distinct phile genomes, then initiating repair.
long run of history: growing populations nucleus that may have evolved as long ago In 1999, Forterre and his technician (later
intent on improving productive efficiency 4 billion years. It was Forterre who, in the wife) Évelyne Marguet joined the AMISTAD
added to the accumulated knowledge 1980s, found that certain archaea wind their expedition of the French National Center for
behind technological innovation, adapta- DNA using reverse gyrase enzymes, which Scientific Research and the French Research
tion and deployment. Avner Greif, Daron work differently from the gyrase found in Institute for Exploration of the Sea. Its aim
Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James bacteria. This is history told by a sci- was to isolate hyperthermophilic archaea

EYE OF SCIENCE/SPL
Robinson maintain that a virtuous circle entist who helped to make it. from the deep eastern Pacific Ocean.
of growth was set in motion by British Forterre was fascinated by the ideas Marguet gives a rousing
institutions that emerged between 1500 of microbiologist Carl Woese. In account of her 2,600-
and 1800, mak- the 1970s, Woese realized that metre dive in the
“Perhaps ing economic ‘archaebacteria’ were distinct submersible Nautile
10,000 educated c o o p e r a t i o n from bacteria, for instance in the to gather samples
Europeans and exchange sequences of their ribosomal from ‘smokers’. These
thought of more attractive RNA. In 1990, Woese and his rock chimneys form at
themselves as than extracting colleagues proposed to divide geologically active sites
participants wealth at the life into three domains: bac- on the sea floor, where
in the search point of a spear teria, archaea and eukaryotes. superheated, metal-
for useful (or a writ). It The concept has gradually laden water is funnelled
knowledge.” might have been been accepted, but Forterre from vents.
luck. Or it might — with microbiologists Wolf- Cells of Sulfolobus archaea. Back on the ship
have been a combination of factors that ram Zillig and Otto Kandler, Atalante, Marguet was
do not correspond neatly to how sub- among others — was an early ‘believer’. enthralled to see cells growing in cultures
discipline-focused historians and social As he relates, most of the archaea that had from her samples, and isolated several Ther-
scientists have conceptualized the issues. then been isolated were extremophiles. These mococcus species. She also tried to isolate
Is Mokyr’s argument correct? For me, include hyperthermophilic microbes that the first viruses from these archaea, using
the balance of probabilities favours Allen’s thrive above 80 °C and are typically found methods established by Zillig. She and For-
explanation above. Yet I do not think in habitats such as deep-ocean vents. Up to terre discovered no viruses, but they did find
there will be consensus on this issue. And the 1970s, the consensus had been that most that Thermococcus strains produced a vast
I would not be greatly surprised if I were such habitats were hostile to life, but a handful amount of membrane vesicles from cells con-
wrong, and Mokyr’s brief — for it is a brief, of groundbreaking microbiologists changed taining plasmid DNA. Since then, large quan-
and not a balanced presentation of the live that. Thomas Brock, for instance, began to tities of membrane vesicles have been found,
possible theories — turned out to be the isolate hyperthermophilic archaea, includ- particularly in ocean water, and produced by
most broadly correct analysis. ing the genus Sulfolobus, from hot springs in eukaryotes and bacteria. They are thought to
Mokyr concludes with a broadside. He Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Later, contribute to DNA transfer between species,
accuses most of us concerned with the German microbiologist Karl Stetter showed so they may have a role in evolution.
causal factors of the Industrial Revolu- that many surprising habitats, even oil fields, Ever since Forterre read Woese’s work on
tion of taking too narrow a view of what it teemed with microbial life. the identification of the archaea and its impli-
actually consisted of. To him, the mecha- In the 1980s, Forterre began to analyse the cations for the tree of life, he has wondered
nisms through which early European hyper­thermophilic archaea isolated by Stetter about a last universal common ancestor of all
intellectuals affected technological pro- and Zillig, looking for reverse gyrase. The life. His book walks the reader through his
gress are deeper and more complex than enzyme causes the DNA double helix to cross fascinating journey to understand how life
simply, ‘How much science was needed to over on itself (supercoiling), and Forterre evolved. Today, Forterre believes that viruses
build a spinning jenny?’. Industrialization discovered that hyperthermophiles contain played a vital part. Microbes from Hell, in
also heralded waves of science; they grew a form of it that induces positive supercoil- interweaving a scientific life with the grand
in tandem. Ultimately, without the impe- ing — adding extra twists. This enzyme, also discovery of the archaea, is a wonderful hom-
tus of science, economic growth would found in hyper­thermo­philic bacteria, has not age to this exciting field, which continues to
have fizzled out after 1815. A Culture of yet been seen in organ- challenge our view of life’s origins. ■
Microbes from Hell
Growth is certainly making me rethink. ■ isms growing at lower PATRICK FORTERRE
temperatures, leading (TRANSL. TERESA Sonja-Verena Albers is professor of
Brad DeLong is an economic historian to speculation that it LAVENDER FAGAN) microbiology at the University of Freiburg in
at the University of California, Berkeley. might be one reason University of Chicago Germany.
e-mail: [email protected] that hyperthermo­ Press: 2016. e-mail: [email protected]

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