Molecular characterization of the life support bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum S1H cultivated under space related environmental conditions

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    Abstract

    R. rubrum S1H inoculated on solid agar medium in dark aerobic conditions was sent to the International space station. Moreover, in an effort to identify a specific response of R. rubrum to space flight, ground simulation of space ionizing radiation and space gravity were performed under identical culture setup and growth conditions encountered during the actual space flight experiment. The cultures were analysed and compared with their corresponding control at both the transcriptomic and proteomic level. In addition, R. rubrum whole protein content was further characterized using a multidimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT). We could put forward the importance of the medium composition and the culture setup on the response of the bacterium to the space flight related stress. We showed for the first time that a low dose of ionizing radiation (2 mGy) can induce a significant response at the transcriptomic level, although no change in cell viability and only a few significant differentially expressed proteins were observed. On the other hand, the MudPIT approach permitted us to identify about 25 % (i.e. 1,007 proteins) of R. rubrum's proteome.
    Original languageEnglish
    QualificationOther
    Awarding Institution
    • Université de Mons
    Supervisors/Advisors
    • Wattiez, Ruddy, Supervisor, External person
    • Van Houdt, Rob, SCK CEN Mentor
    Date of Award12 Jan 2009
    Place of PublicationMons, Belgium
    Publisher
    StatePublished - 23 Jan 2009

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