from Astrobiology W ebsite

Samples of a red rain that fell across the state of Kerala in India in July-August 2001 have been found to
contain microscopic red cells (Louis and Kumar, 2006) of unknown origin.

T he early fall was associated with the 'thunder' and flash of a large meteor. T hey report that the cells
appear to be very unusual in lacking a nucleus and DNA. Dr. Godfrey Louis kindly supplied us with a
sample of this material for independent investigation in Cardiff.

High resolution electron microscopy has revealed internal structures as well as evidence of a replication
cycle not commonly found in either bacteria or yeasts. T hese images are of thin cell slices viewed in the
transmission electron microscope.

T he first (above) shows three cells around 3 micrometers in diameter, with thick cell walls and a variety of
nanostructures within a membrane, but with no identifiable nucleus. Apparent holes in the cell wall are
real.

T he cell on the right has larger holes and may have lost its cytoplasm.
T he second picture shows a cell with shrunken membrane containing 'daughters' - two have well-defined
cell walls while the third structure may be a further daughter in the process of development.

T he latter picture (scale bar is 300 nanometers) shows the full resolution of that pictured in New Scientist
magazine of 1st April 2006 (No. 2545, p.12; www.newscientist.com) with the caption "Does it look alien to
you?". New Scientist letters have also carried various suggestions for known terrestrial micro-organisms -
these pictures should stimulate further ideas!

Further work in progress has yielded positive for DNA using DAPI staining in the cells and daughters.
However, this identification is not yet fully confirmed, and might be considered equivocal.

We hope to pursue our efforts in extracting DNA (if it exists), amplifying it and carrying out genetic
sequencing, but his work takes time.

Re fe re nce s
Godfrey Louis, A. Santhosh Kumar: T he red rain phenomenon of Kerala and its
possible extraterrestrial origin
Godfrey Louis, A. Santhosh Kumar: Cometary panspermia explains the red rain of
Kerala
Pe rsons associate d with this work
Cardiff University: N.C. Wickramasinghe, N. Miyake, S.Al-Mufti, M.K.Wallis (CCAB),
A.C. Hann (Biosci. EM Lab), D. Lloyd, S.K. Sheppard (Microbiology group)
Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. India: G. Louis and S. Kumar

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