Astrobiology in Brazil: early history and perspectives

Abstract

This review reports the Brazilian history in astrobiology, as well as the first delineation of a vision of the future development of the field in the country, exploring its abundant biodiversity, highly capable human resources and state-of-the-art facilities, reflecting the last few years of stable governmental investments in science, technology and education, all conditions providing good perspectives on continued and steadily growing funding for astrobiology-related research. Brazil is growing steadily and fast in terms of its worldwide economic power, an effect being reflected in different areas of the Brazilian society, including industry, technology, education, social care and scientific production. In the field of astrobiology, the country has had some important landmarks, more intensely after the First Brazilian Workshop on Astrobiology in 2006. The history of astrobiology in Brazil, however, is not so recent and had its first occurrence in 1958. Since then, researchers carried out many individual initiatives across the country in astrobiology-related fields, resulting in an ever growing and expressive scientific production. The number of publications, including articles and theses, has particularly increased in the last decade, but still counting with the effort of researchers working individually. That scenario started to change in 2009, when a formal group of Brazilian researchers working with astrobiology was organized, aiming at congregating the scientific community interested in the subject and to promote the necessary interactions to achieve a multidisciplinary work, receiving facilities and funding from the University de Sao Paulo and other funding agencies.

UV ‐resistant yeasts isolated from a high‐altitude volcanic area on the Atacama Desert as eukaryotic models for astrobiology

“…As the Atacama Desert is commonly considered a good Mars analog and the isolated extremophilic yeasts have demonstrated significant radiation and cold tolerance (growth at 0°C for three isolates and down to À6.5°C for two), these organisms can be used as model microorganisms to better understand the response of eukaryotes to extreme conditions, similarly to what has been proposed for the eukaryotes isolated from the Antarctica (Onofri et al 2007). In this way, they can complement the existing models considered for astrobiological studies, and are already being applied in new multiparametric simulations of planetary surfaces and biosignature detection projects, with dedicated systems for this purpose (Rodrigues et al 2012). In addition, although the objective of this work was not to characterize the full diversity of yeasts at the volcano, the species found at the samples are evidence of the potential of such sites for studying the diversity and global dispersion of cold-adapted yeasts.…”

“…In this way, they can complement the existing models considered for astrobiological studies, and are already being applied in new multiparametric simulations of planetary surfaces and biosignature detection projects, with dedicated systems for this purpose (Rodrigues et al. ). In addition, although the objective of this work was not to characterize the full diversity of yeasts at the volcano, the species found at the samples are evidence of the potential of such sites for studying the diversity and global dispersion of cold‐adapted yeasts.…”

Astrobiological context as a strategic tool for the teaching of biology: a perspective from Brazilian curriculum

“…At that time, NASA restructured and extended its space program, which was previously concerned only with the search for extraterrestrial life. Now NASA include research on various aspects of life on Earth (Staley, 2003;Rodrigues et al, 2012). Such reformulation occurred due to the recognition that it is essential to understand the mechanisms and conditions that enabled life to occur, particularly given that Earth is the only known planet where life has arisen and prospered.…”

“…Research, Society and Development, v. 9, n.1, e200911879, 2020(CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i1.1879 after its scientific recognition by NASA. However, in 2006 it was officially institutionalized at the First Brazilian Workshop on Astrobiology, an event that brought together several researchers from different fields and enabled the creation of the first collaborative research groups with an astrobiological approach (Paulino-Lima & Lage, 2010;Rodrigues et al, 2012). Since then, several individual and regional initiatives have been carried out to consolidate and develop the field in Brazil, such as the installation of the first Astrobiology Laboratory (AstroLab) in 2010 and the creation of the Astrobiology Research Center in 2011, both at University of São Paulo.…”

Synthesis of Peptides in Prebiotic Environment: Implications for the Chemical Evolution

“…22 A comunidade científica brasileira tem demonstrado interesse em institucionalizar a astrobiologia no país; recentemente, o Brasil foi associado ao NAI (NASA Astrobiology Institute). 23 Além disso, conforme discutido por Fabio Rodrigues e colaboradores, 24 atualmente há pesquisadores envolvidos com a pesquisa em química pré-biótica no país. Entretanto, esta área do conhecimento ainda é pouco explorada por pesquisadores no Brasil.…”