Archaea in artificial environments: Their presence in global spacecraft clean rooms and impact on planetary protection

Moissl-Eichinger, Christine (2011) Archaea in artificial environments: Their presence in global spacecraft clean rooms and impact on planetary protection. ISME JOURNAL, 5 (2). pp. 209-219. ISSN 1751-7362,

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

The presence and role of Archaea in artificial, human-controlled environments is still unclear. The search for Archaea has been focused on natural biotopes where they have been found in overwhelming numbers, and with amazing properties. However, they are considered as one of the major group of microorganisms that might be able to survive a space flight, or even to thrive on other planets. Although still concentrating on aerobic, bacterial spores as a proxy for spacecraft cleanliness, space agencies are beginning to consider Archaea as a possible contamination source that could affect future searches for life on other planets. This study reports on the discovery of archaeal 16S rRNA gene signatures not only in US American spacecraft assembly clean rooms but also in facilities in Europe and South America. Molecular methods revealed the presence of Crenarchaeota in all clean rooms sampled, while signatures derived from methanogens and a halophile appeared only sporadically. Although no Archaeon was successfully enriched in our multiassay cultivation approach thus far, samples from a European clean room revealed positive archaeal fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) signals of rod-shaped microorganisms, representing the first visualization of Archaea in clean room environments. The molecular and visual detection of Archaea was supported by the first quantitative PCR studies of clean rooms, estimating the overall quantity of Archaea therein. The significant presence of Archaea in these extreme environments in distinct geographical locations suggests a larger role for these microorganisms not only in natural biotopes, but also in human controlled and rigorously cleaned environments. The ISME Journal (2011) 5, 209-219; doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.124; published online 12 August 2010

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: RIBOSOMAL-RNA; SEQUENCE DATA; BACTERIA; METHANE; MICROBIOLOGY; COMMUNITIES; DIVERSITY; NUMBER; RRNDB; OCEAN; Archaea; artificial environment; clean room; microbial diversity; planetary protection
Subjects: 500 Science > 570 Life sciences
Divisions: Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Biochemie, Genetik und Mikrobiologie > Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie (Archaeenzentrum)
Depositing User: Dr. Gernot Deinzer
Date Deposited: 26 Jun 2020 11:13
Last Modified: 26 Jun 2020 11:13
URI: https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/21357

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item