The Study of Microbial Survival in Extraterrestrial Environments Using Low Earth Orbit and Ground-Based Experiments

Olsson-Francis, Karen; Ramkissoon, Nisha K.; Price, Alex; Slade, David; Macey, Michael C.; Pearson, Victoria K.

doi:10.1016/bs.mim.2018.07.003

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 160 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Examples of this include: Developing and testing hypotheses with regards to habitability and the viability of specific microbes, metabolisms and survival strategies [7][8][9] , the identification of potential evidence of life within these environments that could be used for life detection missions (biosignatures) 10,11 , and the testing of equipment and instruments under field condition 12 . The study of analogue environments can then inform further experimentation to investigate astrobiology relevant research questions, such as performing simulation experiments to more accurately replicate the conditions of the celestial body [13][14][15][16] , or via modelling to estimate changes in fluid or precipitate chemistry under accurate physical parameters 17,18 .…”

Section: A-1 Education and Public Awareness About Natural Environment...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrobiology as a Driver to Connect India's Public, Scientists, and Space Missions

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Astrobiology is an emerging and interdisciplinary scientific field that aims to study and understand life in the universe, with research topics including the origin of life and the feasibility of life existing and being detected elsewhere in the universe. In this article, we highlight the critical role that astrobiology plays towards inspiring students and the general public towards space exploration. The cross-disciplinary nature of the field brings together scientists from various backgrounds, breaking down silos that exist in today's scientific community in India. Finally, astrobiology has continuously played a pivotal role in shaping outer space exploration programs and will be an important scientific area of development for the Indian Space Research Organization as well. The formation of the (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre) IN-SPACe body and the emerging New Space ecosystem in India are discussed, as they offer unique opportunities to bring down the cost, time and programmatic challenges traditionally faced by Astrobiology missions.

show abstract

Section: A-1 Education and Public Awareness About Natural Environment...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrobiology as a Driver to Connect India's Public, Scientists, and Space Missions

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Microorganisms play an important role in life and can adapt to and survive in harsh and changing environments. Their ability to thrive in hostile conditions is reflected not only by their survival and activity in Earth's most extreme environments but also in low Earth orbit (LEO) and outer space (Olsson-Francis et al, 2018;Thombre et al, 2022). Spaceflight and the space environment present unique stressors compared to Earth (microgravity, galactic cosmic radiation, solar UV radiation, space vacuum, thermal extremes) to which microbes are exposed, but how they adapt and respond, especially in the context of deep-space exploratory missions, is still poorly understood (Tesei et al, 2022).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Editorial: The impact of the space environment on microbial growth and behavior

Urbaniak,

Tesei,

Van Houdt

2024

Front. Microbiol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Editorial on the Research TopicThe impact of the space environment on microbial growth and behavior The Research Topic starts off with a primary research article by Puig et al., testing the survival of genetically engineered Escherichia coli to simulated low earth orbit conditions. Enhanced survival to radiation, extreme temperature and low pressure was achieved through the insertion of the Dsup radiation resistance gene and the DNA damage repair genes, recA and uvrD Frontiers in Microbiology frontiersin.org

show abstract

Space exposure enhanced pectin-degrading enzymes expression and activity in Aspergillus costaricaensis

Song,

Li,

et al. 2023

World J Microbiol Biotechnol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aspergillus is a well-studied fungal genus that is widely used in the processing of plant biomass in industries. This study investigated the effects of space exposure on the ability of Aspergillus costaricaensis, a lamentous fungus isolated from rotten orange peel, to degrade pectin. The fungus was carried into space by the Long March 5B carrier rocket and exposed to cosmic radiation for 79 hours.After the ight, the strains were screened using pectin as the sole carbon source for directed screening and pectinase activity evaluation. The space-exposed strains showed increased biomass accumulation ability and pectin-degrading activity compared to the ground control strain. Comparative transcriptome analysis revealed that several CAZymes genes were signi cantly upregulated in the space-exposed strains, especially those related to pectin degradation. Among the 44 pectinases identi ed from the annotated genome, 42 were up-regulated. The identi ed activities of these pectinases can break down the four basic structures of pectin, and work together to break down pectin substrates. In addition, the expression of some genes involved in metabolism, sugar transport, and stress response were altered. These results suggest that the space environment can be used as a mutagenesis breeding technique to create highly e cient biomass-degrading microbial strains, with potential applications in biotechnology and bioengineering.

show abstract

The Study of Microbial Survival in Extraterrestrial Environments Using Low Earth Orbit and Ground-Based Experiments

Cited by 3 publications

References 160 publications

Astrobiology as a Driver to Connect India's Public, Scientists, and Space Missions

Astrobiology as a Driver to Connect India's Public, Scientists, and Space Missions

Editorial: The impact of the space environment on microbial growth and behavior

Space exposure enhanced pectin-degrading enzymes expression and activity in Aspergillus costaricaensis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About