Endolit
Endolith - the organism that lives within the rocks, and more precisely in the pores between the grains of rocks, also in the pores of coral shells or skeletons. Endoliths include some species of archaea, bacteria, algae, fungi, lichen and Amoebozoa. Numerous species of endoliths are extremophiles, or organisms living in extremely difficult conditions. Endolites were found on rocks in Antarctica (near the surface of rocks), but also in rocks in the ground at a depth of 3 km. They are an object of interest to astrobiologists, who suppose that such organisms could also live on other celestial bodies outside the Earth.
Most endolites are autotrophs - organic substances that build their body and are essential to their lives are derived from the processing of inorganic substances. It was not fully investigated whether they were extracted directly from the rock or indirectly - first by decomposing it with secreted acids. Because they live in an environment where there is very little water and essential elements for life, they have very free metabolism. In some cases, their cells are broken down once every hundred years. Much of their energy is spent on repairing cellular damage caused by cosmic rays, very little on reproduction and growth.
Among the endoliths there are 3 groups:
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