NDLI: Survival of Akinetes (Resting-State Cells of Cyanobacteria) in Low Earth Orbit and Simulated Extraterrestrial Conditions

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Olsson Francis, Karen Torre, Rosa Towner, Martin C. Cockell, Charles S.
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that have been considered for space applications, such as oxygen production in bioregenerative life support systems, and can be used as a model organism for understanding microbial survival in space. Akinetes are resting-state cells of cyanobacteria that are produced by certain genera of heterocystous cyanobacteria to survive extreme environmental conditions. Although they are similar in nature to endospores, there have been no investigations into the survival of akinetes in extraterrestrial environments. The aim of this work was to examine the survival of akinetes from Anabaena cylindrica in simulated extraterrestrial conditions and in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Akinetes were dried onto limestone rocks and sent into LEO for 10 days on the ESA Biopan VI. In ground-based experiments, the rocks were exposed to periods of desiccation, vacuum (0.7 × 10$^{−3}$ kPa), temperature extremes (−80 to 80°C), Mars conditions (−27°C, 0.8 kPa, CO$_{2}$) and UV radiation (325–400 nm). A proportion of the akinete population was able to survive a period of 10 days in LEO and 28 days in Mars simulated conditions, when the rocks were not subjected to UV radiation. Furthermore, the akinetes were able to survive 28 days of exposure to desiccation and low temperature with high viability remaining. Yet long periods of vacuum and high temperature were lethal to the akinetes. This work shows that akinetes are extreme-tolerating states of cyanobacteria that have a practical use in space applications and yield new insight into the survival of microbial resting-state cells in space conditions.
Starting Page	565
Ending Page	579
Page Count	15
File Format	PDF
ISSN	01696149
Journal	Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
Volume Number	39
Issue Number	6
e-ISSN	15730875
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2009-04-22
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Cyanobacteria Akinetes Low Earth Orbit Mars environment Biochemistry Astronomy, Observations and Techniques Earth Sciences Astrophysics and Astroparticles Life Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Medicine Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Space and Planetary Science

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