4.6 Article

Investigation of fungal biomolecules after Low Earth Orbit exposure: a testbed for the next Moon missions

期刊

ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
卷 24, 期 7, 页码 2938-2950

出版社

WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15995

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资金

  1. Italian Space Agency (BIOMEX MicroColonial Fungi-Experiment on ISS for tracking biomarkers on Martian and lunar rock analogues, ASI grant) [2013-063-R.0]
  2. Italian National Program of Antarctic Researches (PNRA)
  3. Italian National Antarctic Museum 'Felice Ippolito' (MNA)
  4. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG - German Research Foundation) [426601242]
  5. Europlanet 2024 RI - European Union's Horizon 2020 research innovation programme [871149]

向作者/读者索取更多资源

The Moon's harsh conditions provide a unique platform for studying the effects of UV radiation, extreme temperatures, vacuum, and ionizing radiation. Exposure experiments in low Earth orbit can help prepare for lunar space experiments and understand the influence of extraterrestrial conditions on potential biomarkers. This study investigates the stability/degradation of fungal biomarkers after exposure to simulated and real space conditions, with the aim of contributing to future biological experiments on the lunar surface.
The Moon is characterized by extremely harsh conditions due to ultraviolet irradiation, wide temperature extremes, vacuum resulting from the absence of an atmosphere and high ionizing radiation. Therefore, its surface may provide a unique platform to investigate the effects of such conditions. For lunar exploration with the Lunar Gateway platform, exposure experiments in Low Earth Orbit are useful testbeds to prepare for lunar space experiments and to understand how and if potential biomarkers are influenced by extra-terrestrial conditions. During the BIOMEX (BIOlogy and Mars EXperiment) project, dried colonies of the fungus Cryomyces antarcticus grown on Lunar Regolith Analogue (LRA) were exposed to space conditions for 16 months aboard the EXPOSE-R2 payload outside the International Space Station. In this study, we investigated the stability/degradation of fungal biomarkers in LRA after exposure to (i) simulated space and (ii) real space conditions, using Raman spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and DNA amplification. The results demonstrated that fungal biomarkers were detectable after 16 months of real space exposure. This work will contribute to the interpretation of data from future biological experiments in the Cislunar orbit with the Lunar Gateway platform and/or on the lunar surface, in preparation for the next step of human exploration.

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