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| ![]() ![]() Life Sciences:
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![]() ![]() | ![]() ![]() Rene Demets rene.demets@esa.int |
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1. Do Martian gravity and microgravity affect microbially-induced rock alteration?Hypothesis: Martian gravity and microgravity have both an impact on mixing regimes and therefore on microbe-mineral interactions.
2. Do Martian gravity and microgravity induce alterations in biofilms formed by microbes associated with rocks?Hypothesis: Space conditions change the structure and morphology of microbial biofilms formed on solid rocks substrates from which they are gathering nutrients.
3. Do Martian gravity and microgravity induce alterations in gene expression and mutation rates of microbes associated with rocks?Hypothesis: The space environment changes the microbe/mineral environment and hence the gene expression of rock-dwelling microorganisms.
4. To what extent is the (change of) mining performance in Martian gravity and microgravity dependent on the biological species?
Microorganisms such as bacteria are everywhere on Earth’s biosphere, including the human body, and will necessarily follow humans on their journey during space exploration. As they play many important roles in biological processes on Earth, they will be crucial in space. For instance, microorganisms will be essential components of extraterrestrial life support systems. Possible applications include the extraction of useful elements from extraterrestrial rocks, an industrial process called biomining, and soil formation. During this online presentation, Dr Rosa Santomartino talked about how microorganisms could help us in the establishment of extraterrestrial human settlements, with a particular focus on biomining. She showed the results from the first space biomining experiment, BioRock, that was performed on the International Space Station in summer 2019, and gave an outlook on future microbiological applications in space.
- deep-frozen samples of the Amyloid Aggregation experiment;- deep-frozen microbes of the BioRock experiment;- algae of German Aerospace Center DLR’s PhotoBioreactor;- Matiss-2 experiment.
• Manufacturing of basalt slides• Preparation of cultures on basalt slides• Preparation of culture medium• Loading and assembly of the BMRs
• Transport of BMRs to the launch site• Upload• On-board storage• Supply of culture medium: start of mining• Photography part 1• Separation of BMRs over three g-levels: μg, 1g, 0.38g• Provision of stable culturing temperature (incubator)• Supply of fixative: end of mining• Photography part 2• On-board storage• Download• Post-fixation on ground of all test samples• Delivery of BMRs to the investigator’s lab
• Analysis of biofilms• Analysis of culture medium• Analysis of basalt slides
1. One set will be exposed to microgravity;2. A second set will be exposed to Martian gravity on an on-board centrifuge;3. A third set will be exposed to 1g on an on-board centrifuge;4. A fourth set shall be kept on ground in parallel to the flight experiment.
Motility: sedentary (= immotile).Niche: commonly found in soil.Resting state: upon desiccation B. subtilis produces endospores.Note: B. subtilis can optionally swim using a flagellum, but not under the conditions defined for BIOROCK.B. subtilis will be prepared by DLR, Cologne.
Motility: sedentary (= immotile).Niche: desert soil crust.Resting state: upon desiccation no spores are formed.S. desiccabilis will be prepared by the University of Edinburgh.
Motility: sedentary (= immotile).Niche: heavy metal plants in Belgium.Resting state: upon desiccation no spores are formed.C. metallidurans will be prepared by SCK-CEN, Mol.
1) they are robust to desiccation, enabling an upload under dry, dormant conditions,2) they are tolerant of thermal excursions,3) they have previously been implicated in microbe-rock interactions and thus rock weathering,4) they can be easily grown and manipulated in the laboratory, thus lending themselves to experimental use,5) all are risk group 1 (non-pathogen lowest category).
- macroscopic analyses (rock material, biofilm formation),- pH measurements of the culture medium,- microscopic imaging (SEM, TEM, EM, light microscopy - staining),- biochemical investigations (determination of cation release rates by ion chromatography and inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy, medium changes by HPLC-MS),- microbiological analyses (e.g. quantification; cultivation-independent approaches),- genome and proteomic analyses,- biofilm studies (formation, stability, quantification of biomass and structure).
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[20] | B. Byloos, I. Coninx, O. Van Hoey, C.S. Cockell, N. Nicholson, V. Ilyin, R. Van Houdt, N. Boon, N. Leys, (2017), "The impact of space flight on survival and interaction of Cupriavidus metallidurans CH34 with basalt, a volcanic moon analog rock", Frontiers in Microbiology, 8, DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00671, pp. 671. |
[21] | R. Santomartino, A.C. Waajen, W. de Wit, N. Nicholson, L. Parmitano, C.M. Loudon, R. Moeller, P. Rettberg, F.M. Fuchs, R. Van Houdt, K. Finster, I. Coninx, J. Krause, A. Koehler, N. Caplin, L. Zuijderduijn, V. Zolesi, M. Balsamo, A. Mariani, S.S. Pellari, F. Carubia, G. Luciani, N. Leys, J. Doswald-Winkler, M. Herová, J. Wadsworth, C.R. Everroad, B. Rattenbacher, R. Demets, C.S. Cockell, (2020), "No Effect of Microgravity and Simulated Mars Gravity on Final Bacterial Cell Concentrations on the International Space Station: Applications to Space Bioproduction", Frontiers in Microbiology, 11, DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.579156, pp. 2414. |
[22] | C.S. Cockell, R. Santomartino, K. Finster, A.C. Waajen, L.J. Eades, R. Moeller, P. Rettberg, F.M. Fuchs, R. Van Houdt, N. Leys, I. Coninx, J. Hatton, L. Parmitano, J. Krause, A. Koehler, N. Caplin, L. Zuijderduijn, A. Mariani, S.S. Pellari, F. Carubia, G. Luciani, M. Balsamo, V. Zolesi, N. Nicholson, C.M. Loudon, J. Doswald-Winkler, M. Herová, B. Rattenbacher, J. Wadsworth, R.C. Everroad, R. Demets, (2020), "Space station biomining experiment demonstrates rare earth element extraction in microgravity and Mars gravity", Nature Communications, 11, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19276-w, pp. 5523. |
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![]() Reference Document no 22: C.S. Cockell, R. Santomartino, K. Finster, A.C. Waajen, L.J. Eades, R. Moeller, P. Rettberg, F.M. Fuchs, R. Van Houdt, N. Leys, I. Coninx, J. Hatton, L. Parmitano, J. Krause, A. Koehler, N. Caplin, L. Zuijderduijn, A. Mariani, S.S. Pellari, F. Carubia, G. Luciani, M. Balsamo, V. Zolesi, N. Nicholson, C.M. Loudon, J. Doswald-Winkler, M. Herová, B. Rattenbacher, J. Wadsworth, R.C. Everroad, R. Demets, (2020), "Space station biomining experiment demonstrates rare earth element extraction in microgravity and Mars gravity", Nature Communications, 11, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19276-w, pp. 5523. |