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D'Ovidio AJ, Knarr B, Blanchard AJ, Bennett GW, Leiva W, Duan B, Zuniga JM. Characterization of Antimicrobial Poly(Lactic Acid)- and Polyurethane-Based Materials Enduring Closed-Loop Recycling with Applications in Space. Polymers (Basel) 2024; 16:626. [PMID: 38475308 DOI: 10.3390/polym16050626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that astronauts experience altered immune response behavior during spaceflight, resulting in heightened susceptibility to illness. Resources and resupply shuttles will become scarcer with longer duration spaceflight, limiting access to potentially necessary medical treatment and facilities. Thus, there is a need for preventative health countermeasures that can exploit in situ resource utilization technologies during spaceflight, such as additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D printing). The purpose of the current study was to test and validate recyclable antimicrobial materials compatible with additive manufacturing. Antimicrobial poly(lactic acid)- and polyurethane-based materials compatible with 3D printing were assessed for antimicrobial, mechanical, and chemical characteristics before and after one closed-loop recycling cycle. Our results show high biocidal efficacy (>90%) of both poly(lactic acid) and polyurethane materials while retaining efficacy post recycling, except for recycled-state polyurethane which dropped from 98.91% to 0% efficacy post 1-year accelerated aging. Significant differences in tensile and compression characteristics were observed post recycling, although no significant changes to functional chemical groups were found. Proof-of-concept medical devices developed show the potential for the on-demand manufacturing and recyclability of typically single-use medical devices using antimicrobial materials that could serve as preventative health countermeasures for immunocompromised populations, such as astronauts during spaceflight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J D'Ovidio
- Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), Omaha, NE 68182, USA
| | - Brian Knarr
- Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), Omaha, NE 68182, USA
| | | | - Gregory W Bennett
- Department of Adult Restorative Dentistry, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha, NE 68198, USA
| | - William Leiva
- Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania
| | - Bin Duan
- Department of Adult Restorative Dentistry, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha, NE 68198, USA
| | - Jorge M Zuniga
- Department of Biomechanics, University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), Omaha, NE 68182, USA
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2
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Gan X, Zhao J, Li S, Kan G, Zhang Y, Wang B, Zhang P, Ma X, Tian H, Liao M, Ju D, Xu S, Chen X, Guo J. Simulated space environmental factors of weightlessness, noise and low atmospheric pressure differentially affect the diurnal rhythm and the gut microbiome. LIFE SCIENCES IN SPACE RESEARCH 2024; 40:115-125. [PMID: 38245336 DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2023.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2024]
Abstract
The circadian clock extensively regulates physiology and behavior. In space, astronauts encounter many environmental factors that are dramatically different from those on Earth; however, the effects of these factors on circadian rhythms and the mechanisms remain largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the changes in the mouse diurnal rhythm and gut microbiome under simulated space capsule conditions, including microgravity, noise and low atmospheric pressure (LAP). Noise and LAP were loaded in the capsule while the conditions in the animal room remained constant. The mice in the capsule showed disturbed locomotor rhythms and faster adaptation to a 6-h phase advance. RNA sequencing of hypothalamus samples containing the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) revealed that microgravity simulated by hind limb unloading (HU) and exposure to noise and LAP led to decreases in the quantities of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including circadian clock genes. Changes in the rhythmicity of genes implicated in pathways of cardiovascular deconditioning and more concentrated phases were found under HU or noise and LAP. Furthermore, 16S rRNA sequencing revealed dysbiosis in the gut microbiome, and noise and LAP may repress the temporal discrepancy in the microbiome community structure induced by microgravity. Changes in diurnal oscillations were observed in a number of gut bacteria with critical physiological consequences on metabolism and immunodefense. We also found that the superimposition of noise and LAP may repress normal changes in global gene expression and adaptation in the gut microbiome. Our data demonstrate that in addition to microgravity, exposure to noise and LAP affect the robustness of circadian rhythms and the community structure of the gut microbiome, and these factors may interfere with each other in their adaptation to respective conditions. These findings are important for furthering our understanding of the alterations in circadian rhythms in the complex environment of space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xihui Gan
- Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Regulation, School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jianwei Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Silin Li
- Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Regulation, School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guanghan Kan
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Yin Zhang
- Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Regulation, School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Bo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Peng Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaohong Ma
- Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Regulation, School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hongni Tian
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Meimei Liao
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Dapeng Ju
- National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Shuihong Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoping Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China; National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China.
| | - Jinhu Guo
- Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory of Gene Function and Regulation, School of Life Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
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3
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Tierney BT, Kim J, Overbey EG, Ryon KA, Foox J, Sierra M, Bhattacharya C, Damle N, Najjar D, Park J, Garcia Medina S, Houerbi N, Meydan C, Wain Hershberg J, Qiu J, Kleinman A, Al Ghalith G, MacKay M, Afshin EE, Dhir R, Borg J, Gatt C, Brereton N, Readhead B, Beyaz S, Venkateswaran KJ, Blease K, Moreno J, Boddicker A, Zhao J, Lajoie B, Scott RT, Altomare A, Kruglyak S, Levy S, Church G, Mason CE. Viral activation and ecological restructuring characterize a microbiome axis of spaceflight-associated immune activation. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2493867. [PMID: 37886447 PMCID: PMC10602132 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2493867/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Maintenance of astronaut health during spaceflight will require monitoring and potentially modulating their microbiomes, which play a role in some space-derived health disorders. However, documenting the response of microbiota to spaceflight has been difficult thus far due to mission constraints that lead to limited sampling. Here, we executed a six-month longitudinal study centered on a three-day flight to quantify the high-resolution microbiome response to spaceflight. Via paired metagenomics and metatranscriptomics alongside single immune profiling, we resolved a microbiome "architecture" of spaceflight characterized by time-dependent and taxonomically divergent microbiome alterations across 750 samples and ten body sites. We observed pan-phyletic viral activation and signs of persistent changes that, in the oral microbiome, yielded plaque-associated pathobionts with strong associations to immune cell gene expression. Further, we found enrichments of microbial genes associated with antibiotic production, toxin-antitoxin systems, and stress response enriched universally across the body sites. We also used strain-level tracking to measure the potential propagation of microbial species from the crew members to each other and the environment, identifying microbes that were prone to seed the capsule surface and move between the crew. Finally, we identified associations between microbiome and host immune cell shifts, proposing both a microbiome axis of immune changes during flight as well as the sources of some of those changes. In summary, these datasets and methods reveal connections between crew immunology, the microbiome, and their likely drivers and lay the groundwork for future microbiome studies of spaceflight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Braden T. Tierney
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - JangKeun Kim
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Eliah G. Overbey
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Krista A. Ryon
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jonathan Foox
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Maria Sierra
- Tri-Institutional Biology and Medicine program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Chandrima Bhattacharya
- Tri-Institutional Biology and Medicine program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Namita Damle
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Deena Najjar
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jiwoon Park
- Tri-Institutional Biology and Medicine program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Nadia Houerbi
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Cem Meydan
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jeremy Wain Hershberg
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jake Qiu
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ashley Kleinman
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Matthew MacKay
- Tri-Institutional Biology and Medicine program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Evan E Afshin
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Raja Dhir
- Seed Health, Inc, Venice, CA, USA
- Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zurich, Davos, Switzerland
| | - Joseph Borg
- Department of Applied Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, MSD2090, Malta
| | - Christine Gatt
- Department of Applied Biomedical Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Malta, Msida, MSD2090, Malta
| | - Nicholas Brereton
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Ben Readhead
- ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Semir Beyaz
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Ryan T. Scott
- KBR; Space Biosciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | - George Church
- Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Christopher E. Mason
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- The WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
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4
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Trubl G, Stedman KM, Bywaters KF, Matula EE, Sommers P, Roux S, Merino N, Yin J, Kaelber JT, Avila-Herrera A, Johnson PA, Johnson JC, Borges S, Weber PK, Pett-Ridge J, Boston PJ. Astrovirology: how viruses enhance our understanding of life in the Universe. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ASTROBIOLOGY 2023; 22:247-271. [PMID: 38046673 PMCID: PMC10691837 DOI: 10.1017/s1473550423000058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Viruses are the most numerically abundant biological entities on Earth. As ubiquitous replicators of molecular information and agents of community change, viruses have potent effects on the life on Earth, and may play a critical role in human spaceflight, for life-detection missions to other planetary bodies and planetary protection. However, major knowledge gaps constrain our understanding of the Earth's virosphere: (1) the role viruses play in biogeochemical cycles, (2) the origin(s) of viruses and (3) the involvement of viruses in the evolution, distribution and persistence of life. As viruses are the only replicators that span all known types of nucleic acids, an expanded experimental and theoretical toolbox built for Earth's viruses will be pivotal for detecting and understanding life on Earth and beyond. Only by filling in these knowledge and technical gaps we will obtain an inclusive assessment of how to distinguish and detect life on other planetary surfaces. Meanwhile, space exploration requires life-support systems for the needs of humans, plants and their microbial inhabitants. Viral effects on microbes and plants are essential for Earth's biosphere and human health, but virus-host interactions in spaceflight are poorly understood. Viral relationships with their hosts respond to environmental changes in complex ways which are difficult to predict by extrapolating from Earth-based proxies. These relationships should be studied in space to fully understand how spaceflight will modulate viral impacts on human health and life-support systems, including microbiomes. In this review, we address key questions that must be examined to incorporate viruses into Earth system models, life-support systems and life detection. Tackling these questions will benefit our efforts to develop planetary protection protocols and further our understanding of viruses in astrobiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gareth Trubl
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
| | - Kenneth M. Stedman
- Center for Life in Extreme Environments, Department of Biology, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA
| | | | | | | | - Simon Roux
- DOE Joint Genome Institute, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Nancy Merino
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
| | - John Yin
- Chemical and Biological Engineering, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Jason T. Kaelber
- Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA
| | - Aram Avila-Herrera
- Computing Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
| | - Peter Anto Johnson
- Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | | | | | - Peter K. Weber
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
| | - Jennifer Pett-Ridge
- Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
- Life & Environmental Sciences Department, University of California Merced, Merced, CA, USA
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5
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Lombini M, Schreiber L, Albertini R, Alessi EM, Attinà P, Bianco A, Cascone E, Colucci ME, Cortecchia F, De Caprio V, Diolaiti E, Fiorini M, Lessio L, Macchi A, Malaguti G, Mongelluzzo G, Pareschi G, Pelizzo MG, Pasquarella C. Solar ultraviolet light collector for germicidal irradiation on the moon. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8326. [PMID: 37221252 PMCID: PMC10204019 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35438-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Prolonged human-crewed missions on the Moon are foreseen as a gateway for Mars and asteroid colonisation in the next decades. Health risks related to long-time permanence in space have been partially investigated. Hazards due to airborne biological contaminants represent a relevant problem in space missions. A possible way to perform pathogens' inactivation is by employing the shortest wavelength range of Solar ultraviolet radiation, the so-called germicidal range. On Earth, it is totally absorbed by the atmosphere and does not reach the surface. In space, such Ultraviolet solar component is present and effective germicidal irradiation for airborne pathogens' inactivation can be achieved inside habitable outposts through a combination of highly reflective internal coating and optimised geometry of the air ducts. The Solar Ultraviolet Light Collector for Germicidal Irradiation on the Moon is a project whose aim is to collect Ultraviolet solar radiation and use it as a source to disinfect the re-circulating air of the human outposts. The most favourable positions where to place these collectors are over the peaks at the Moon's poles, which have the peculiarity of being exposed to solar radiation most of the time. On August 2022, NASA communicated to have identified 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole for Artemis missions. Another advantage of the Moon is its low inclination to the ecliptic, which maintains the Sun's apparent altitude inside a reduced angular range. For this reason, Ultraviolet solar radiation can be collected through a simplified Sun's tracking collector or even a static collector and used to disinfect the recycled air. Fluid-dynamic and optical simulations have been performed to support the proposed idea. The expected inactivation rates for some airborne pathogens, either common or found on the International Space Station, are reported and compared with the proposed device efficiency. The results show that it is possible to use Ultraviolet solar radiation directly for air disinfection inside the lunar outposts and deliver a healthy living environment to the astronauts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matteo Lombini
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Laura Schreiber
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Roberto Albertini
- Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università di Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Elisa Maria Alessi
- Istituto di Matematica Applicata e Tecnologie Informatiche "E. Magenes" - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Milan, Italy
| | - Primo Attinà
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, LC, Italy
| | - Andrea Bianco
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, LC, Italy
| | - Enrico Cascone
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
| | | | - Fausto Cortecchia
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Vincenzo De Caprio
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
| | - Emiliano Diolaiti
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Mauro Fiorini
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Luigi Lessio
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Alberto Macchi
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, LC, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Malaguti
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Mongelluzzo
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
| | - Giovanni Pareschi
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, LC, Italy
| | - Maria G Pelizzo
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università di Padova, Padua, Italy
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McDonagh F, Cormican M, Morris D, Burke L, Singh NK, Venkateswaran K, Miliotis G. Medical Astro-Microbiology: Current Role and Future Challenges. J Indian Inst Sci 2023; 103:1-26. [PMID: 37362850 PMCID: PMC10082442 DOI: 10.1007/s41745-023-00360-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
The second and third decades of the twenty-first century are marked by a flourishing of space technology which may soon realise human aspirations of a permanent multiplanetary presence. The prevention, control and management of infection with microbial pathogens is likely to play a key role in how successful human space aspirations will become. This review considers the emerging field of medical astro-microbiology. It examines the current evidence regarding the risk of infection during spaceflight via host susceptibility, alterations to the host's microbiome as well as exposure to other crew members and spacecraft's microbiomes. It also considers the relevance of the hygiene hypothesis in this regard. It then reviews the current evidence related to infection risk associated with microbial adaptability in spaceflight conditions. There is a particular focus on the International Space Station (ISS), as one of the only two crewed objects in low Earth orbit. It discusses the effects of spaceflight related stressors on viruses and the infection risks associated with latent viral reactivation and increased viral shedding during spaceflight. It then examines the effects of the same stressors on bacteria, particularly in relation to changes in virulence and drug resistance. It also considers our current understanding of fungal adaptability in spaceflight. The global public health and environmental risks associated with a possible re-introduction to Earth of invasive species are also briefly discussed. Finally, this review examines the largely unknown microbiology and infection implications of celestial body habitation with an emphasis placed on Mars. Overall, this review summarises much of our current understanding of medical astro-microbiology and identifies significant knowledge gaps. Graphical Abstract
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca McDonagh
- Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Martin Cormican
- Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Galway University Hospitals, Galway, Ireland
| | - Dearbháile Morris
- Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Liam Burke
- Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
| | - Nitin Kumar Singh
- Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA USA
| | - Kasthuri Venkateswaran
- Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA USA
| | - Georgios Miliotis
- Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
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7
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Host-Associated Phages Disperse across the Extraterrestrial Analogue Antarctica. Appl Environ Microbiol 2022; 88:e0031522. [PMID: 35499326 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00315-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Extreme Antarctic conditions provide one of the closest analogues of extraterrestrial environments. Since air and snow samples, especially from polar regions, yield DNA amounts in the lower picogram range, binning of prokaryotic genomes is challenging and renders studying the dispersal of biological entities across these environments difficult. Here, we hypothesized that dispersal of host-associated bacteriophages (adsorbed, replicating, or prophages) across the Antarctic continent can be tracked via their genetic signatures, aiding our understanding of virus and host dispersal across long distances. Phage genome fragments (PGFs) reconstructed from surface snow metagenomes of three Antarctic stations were assigned to four host genomes, mainly Betaproteobacteria, including Ralstonia spp. We reconstructed the complete genome of a temperate phage with nearly complete alignment to a prophage in the reference genome of Ralstonia pickettii 12D. PGFs from different stations were related to each other at the genus level and matched similar hosts. Metagenomic read mapping and nucleotide polymorphism analysis revealed a wide dispersal of highly identical PGFs, 13 of which were detected in seawater from the Western Antarctic Peninsula at a distance of 5,338 km from the snow sampling stations. Our results suggest that host-associated phages, especially of Ralstonia sp., disperse over long distances despite the harsh conditions of the Antarctic continent. Given that 14 phages associated with two R. pickettii draft genomes isolated from space equipment were identified, we conclude that Ralstonia phages are ideal mobile genetic elements to track dispersal and contamination in ecosystems relevant for astrobiology. IMPORTANCE Host-associated phages of the bacterium Ralstonia identified in snow samples can be used to track microbial dispersal over thousands of kilometers across the Antarctic continent, which functions as an extraterrestrial analogue because of its harsh environmental conditions. Due to the presence of these bacteria carrying genome-integrated prophages on space-related equipment and the potential for dispersal of host-associated phages demonstrated here, our work has implications for planetary protection, a discipline in astrobiology interested in preventing contamination of celestial bodies with alien biomolecules or forms of life.
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8
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Mapstone LJ, Leite MN, Purton S, Crawford IA, Dartnell L. Cyanobacteria and microalgae in supporting human habitation on Mars. Biotechnol Adv 2022; 59:107946. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2022.107946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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