DNA Damage and Survival Time Course of Deinococcal Cell Pellets During 3 Years of Exposure to Outer Space.

ABSTRACT: The hypothesis called "panspermia" proposes an interplanetary transfer of life. Experiments have exposed extremophilic organisms to outer space to test microbe survivability and the panspermia hypothesis. Microbes inside shielding material with sufficient thickness to protect them from UV-irradiation can survive in space. This process has been called "lithopanspermia," meaning rocky panspermia. We previously proposed sub-millimeter cell pellets (aggregates) could survive in the harsh space environment based on an on-ground laboratory experiment. To test our hypothesis, we placed dried cell pellets of the radioresistant bacteria Deinococcus spp. in aluminum plate wells in exposure panels attached to the outside of the International Space Station (ISS). We exposed microbial cell pelle

SUBMITTER: Kawaguchi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7479814 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature