Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Survivability in Outer Space: A Systems Biology Approach

Frontiers in Microbiology

Tetyana Milojevic²  Wolfram Weckwerth³ 

[1] Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;Extremophiles/Space Biochemistry Group, Department of Biophysical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;Vienna Metabolomics Center, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;

关键词: microbes in space;    space missions;    –omics technology;    extremophiles;    outer space;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2020.00923

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Since the dawn of space exploration, the survivability of terrestrial life in outer space conditions has attracted enormous attention. Space technology has enabled the development of advanced space exposure facilities to investigate in situ responses of microbial life to the stress conditions of space during interplanetary transfer. Significant progress has been made toward the understanding of the effects of space environmental factors, e.g., microgravity, vacuum and radiation, on microorganisms exposed to real and simulated space conditions. Of extreme importance is not only knowledge of survival potential of space-exposed microorganisms, but also the determination of mechanisms of survival and adaptation of predominant species to the extreme space environment, i.e., revealing the molecular machinery, which elicit microbial survivability and adaptation. Advanced technologies in –omics research have permitted genome-scale studies of molecular alterations of space-exposed microorganisms. A variety of reports show that microorganisms grown in the space environment exhibited global alterations in metabolic functions and gene expression at the transcriptional and translational levels. Proteomic, metabolomic and especially metabolic modeling approaches as essential instruments of space microbiology, synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are rather underrepresented. Here we summarized the molecular space-induced alterations of exposed microorganisms in terms of understanding the molecular mechanisms of microbial survival and adaptation to drastic outer space environment.

【 授权许可】

Unknown