TY - JOUR
T1 - No Effect of Microgravity and Simulated Mars Gravity on Final Bacterial Cell Concentrations on the International Space Station: Applications to Space Bioproduction
AU - Santomartino, Rosa
AU - Waajen, Annemiek C.
AU - de Wit, Wessel
AU - Parmitano, Luca
AU - Loudon, Claire-Marie
AU - Moeller, Ralf
AU - Rettberg, Petra
AU - Fuchs, Felix
AU - Van Houdt, Rob
AU - Finster, Kai
AU - Coninx, Ilse
AU - Krause, Jutta
AU - Koehler, Andrea
AU - Caplin, Nicol
AU - Zuijderduijn, Lobke
AU - Zolesi, Valfredo
AU - Balsamo, Michele
AU - Mariani, Alessandro
AU - Pellari, Stefano S.
AU - Carubia, Fabrizio
AU - Luciani, Giacomo
AU - Leys, Natalie
AU - Doswald-Winkler, Jeannine
AU - Herova, Magdalena
AU - Wadsworth, Jennifer
AU - Everroad, Craig R.
AU - Rattenbacher, Bernd
AU - Demets, René
AU - Cockell, Charles S.
N1 - Score=10
PY - 2020/10/14
Y1 - 2020/10/14
N2 - Microorganisms perform countless tasks on Earth and they are expected to be essential for human space exploration. Despite the interest in the responses of bacteria to space conditions, the findings on the effects of microgravity have been contradictory, while the effects of Martian gravity are nearly unknown. We performed the ESA BioRock experiment on the International Space Station to study microbe-mineral interactions in microgravity, simulated Mars gravity and simulated Earth gravity, as well as in ground gravity controls, with three bacterial species: Sphingomonas desiccabilis, Bacillus subtilis, and Cupriavidus metallidurans. To our knowledge, this was the first experiment to study simulated Martian gravity on bacteria using a space platform. Here, we tested the hypothesis that different gravity regimens can influence the final cell concentrations achieved after a multi-week period in space. Despite the different sedimentation rates predicted, we found no significant differences in final cell counts and optical densities between the three gravity regimens on the ISS. This suggests that possible gravity-related effects on bacterial growth were overcome by the end of the experiment. The results indicate that microbial-supported bioproduction and life support systems can be effectively performed in space (e.g., Mars), as on Earth.
AB - Microorganisms perform countless tasks on Earth and they are expected to be essential for human space exploration. Despite the interest in the responses of bacteria to space conditions, the findings on the effects of microgravity have been contradictory, while the effects of Martian gravity are nearly unknown. We performed the ESA BioRock experiment on the International Space Station to study microbe-mineral interactions in microgravity, simulated Mars gravity and simulated Earth gravity, as well as in ground gravity controls, with three bacterial species: Sphingomonas desiccabilis, Bacillus subtilis, and Cupriavidus metallidurans. To our knowledge, this was the first experiment to study simulated Martian gravity on bacteria using a space platform. Here, we tested the hypothesis that different gravity regimens can influence the final cell concentrations achieved after a multi-week period in space. Despite the different sedimentation rates predicted, we found no significant differences in final cell counts and optical densities between the three gravity regimens on the ISS. This suggests that possible gravity-related effects on bacterial growth were overcome by the end of the experiment. The results indicate that microbial-supported bioproduction and life support systems can be effectively performed in space (e.g., Mars), as on Earth.
KW - Microgravity
KW - Spaceflight
KW - Mars gravity
KW - BioRock
KW - International Space Station
KW - ISS
KW - Space microbiology
KW - Space bioproduction
KW - Bacterial cell concentration
UR - https://ecm.sckcen.be/OTCS/llisapi.dll/open/41515027
U2 - 10.3389/fmicb.2020.579156
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2020.579156
M3 - Article
SN - 1664-302X
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
JF - Frontiers in Microbiology
M1 - 579156
ER -