Stieglmeier, Michaela and Rettberg, Petra and Barczyk, Simon and Bohmeier, Maria and Pukall, Ruediger and Wirth, Reinhard and Moissl-Eichinger, Christine (2012) Abundance and Diversity of Microbial Inhabitants in European Spacecraft-Associated Clean Rooms. ASTROBIOLOGY, 12 (6). pp. 572-585. ISSN 1531-1074, 1557-8070
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
The determination of the microbial load of a spacecraft en route to interesting extraterrestrial environments is mandatory and currently based on the culturable, heat-shock-surviving portion of microbial contaminants. Our study compared these classical bioburden measurements as required by NASA's and ESA's guidelines for the microbial examination of flight hardware, with molecular analysis methods (16S rRNA gene cloning and quantitative PCR) to further develop our understanding of the diversity and abundance of the microbial communities of spacecraft-associated clean rooms. Three samplings of the Herschel Space Observatory and its surrounding clean rooms were performed in two different European facilities. Molecular analyses detected a broad diversity of microbes typically found in the human microbiome with three bacterial genera (Staphylococcus, Propionibacterium, and Brevundimonas) common to all three locations. Bioburden measurements revealed a low, but heterogeneous, abundance of spore-forming and other heat-resistant microorganisms. Total cell numbers estimated by quantitative real-time PCR were typically 3 orders of magnitude greater than those determined by viable counts, which indicates a tendency for traditional methods to underestimate the extent of clean room bioburden. Furthermore, the molecular methods allowed the detection of a much broader diversity than traditional culture-based methods.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | RIBOSOMAL-RNA GENE; IONIZING-RADIATION; BACTERIA; SEQUENCE; CYANOBACTERIUM; CULTIVATION; PROJECT; UNIFRAC; NUMBER; IMPACT; Planetary protection; Clean rooms; Microbial diversity; Bioburden; qPCR |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 570 Life sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie (Archaeenzentrum) Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie (Archaeenzentrum) > Prof. Dr. Reinhard Wirth |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 12 May 2020 08:11 |
| Last Modified: | 12 May 2020 08:11 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/18615 |
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