A microbial survey of the International Space Station (ISS)

PeerJ

article

Jenna M. Lang¹  David A. Coil¹  Russell Y. Neches¹  Wendy E. Brown²  Darlene Cavalier²  Mark Severance²  Jarrad T. Hampton-Marcell⁶  Jack A. Gilbert⁸  Jonathan A. Eisen¹ 

[1] Genome Center, University of California;Science Cheerleader;Biomedical Engineering, University of California;The Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, Arizona State University;Scistarter.org;Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago;Argonne National Laboratory, University of Chicago;Institute for Genomics and Systems Biology, Argonne National Laboratory;Evolution and Ecology, University of California;Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California

关键词: 16S;    Microbial ecology;    Microbiology of the built environment;    Microbiome;    International space station;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.4029

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundModern advances in sequencing technology have enabled the census of microbial members of many natural ecosystems. Recently, attention is increasingly being paid to the microbial residents of human-made, built ecosystems, both private (homes) and public (subways, office buildings, and hospitals). Here, we report results of the characterization of the microbial ecology of a singular built environment, the International Space Station (ISS). This ISS sampling involved the collection and microbial analysis (via 16S rRNA gene PCR) of 15 surfaces sampled by swabs onboard the ISS. This sampling was a component of Project MERCCURI (Microbial Ecology Research Combining Citizen and University Researchers on ISS). Learning more about the microbial inhabitants of the “buildings” in which we travel through space will take on increasing importance, as plans for human exploration continue, with the possibility of colonization of other planets and moons.ResultsSterile swabs were used to sample 15 surfaces onboard the ISS. The sites sampled were designed to be analogous to samples collected for (1) the Wildlife of Our Homes project and (2) a study of cell phones and shoes that were concurrently being collected for another component of Project MERCCURI. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes amplified from DNA extracted from each swab was used to produce a census of the microbes present on each surface sampled. We compared the microbes found on the ISS swabs to those from both homes on Earth and data from the Human Microbiome Project.ConclusionsWhile significantly different from homes on Earth and the Human Microbiome Project samples analyzed here, the microbial community composition on the ISS was more similar to home surfaces than to the human microbiome samples. The ISS surfaces are OTU-rich with 1,036–4,294 operational taxonomic units (OTUs per sample). There was no discernible biogeography of microbes on the 15 ISS surfaces, although this may be a reflection of the small sample size we were able to obtain.

【 授权许可】

CC BY