Abstract
Some organisms have shown the ability to naturally survive in extreme environments, even outer space. Some of these have natural mechanisms to resist severe DNA damage from conditions such as ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, extreme temperatures, and low pressures or vacuum. A good example can be found in Deinococcus radiodurans, which was exposed to severe conditions such as those listed in the Exposure Facility of the International Space Station (ISS) for up to three years. Another example are tardigrades (Ramazzottius varieornatus) which are some of the most resilient animals known. In this study, the survival under simulated Low earth Orbit (LEO) environmental conditions was tested in Escherichia coli. The radiation resistance of this bacteria was enhanced using the Dsup gene from R. varieornatus, and two more genes from D. radiodurans involved in DNA damage repair, RecA and uvrD. The enhanced survival to wide ranges of temperatures and low pressures was then tested in the new strains. This research constitutes a first step in the creation of new bacterial strains engineered to survive severe conditions and adapting existing species for their survival in remote environments, including extra-terrestrial habitats. These strains could be key for the development of environments hospitable to life and could be of use for ecological restoration and space exploration. In addition, studying the efficacy and the functioning of the DNA repair mechanisms used in this study could be beneficial for medical and life sciences engineering.
Highlights
Microorganisms and bacteria are essential for the biosphere, persevering in a wide variety of environmental conditions, some of which could be considered “extreme.” this definition has a strong anthropocentric criterion, since the conditions we may perceive as “extreme” are nominal and/or optimal for the growth of several species (Rothschild and Mancinelli, 2001)
To determine the survival of wild-type Escherichia coli to ionizing radiation, random mutagenesis was induced, and the cells were exposed to X-rays
The different E. coli strains transformed with a plasmid containing one of the D. radiodurans or R. varieornatus genes revealed a big difference in the efficacies of the gene products in E. coli, as well as a big variation in the surviving fraction
Summary
Microorganisms and bacteria are essential for the biosphere, persevering in a wide variety of environmental conditions, some of which could be considered “extreme.” this definition has a strong anthropocentric criterion, since the conditions we may perceive as “extreme” are nominal and/or optimal for the growth of several species (Rothschild and Mancinelli, 2001). Extremophilic life has constituted a large part of the evolutionary history of life, as our Radiation Resistance Engineering understanding of the environment is based on the current planetary surface conditions on Earth, which have only occurred for a short period of time compared to the existence of life (Knoll, 2015) Some of these resilient organisms have been isolated or tested inside and outside the International Space Station (ISS), orbiting in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO), ∼360 km above Earth’s surface (Bijlani et al, 2021). This is the case of some species of tardigrades, such as Ramazzottius varieornatus (Jönsson et al, 2008), and bacteria such as Deinococcus radiodurans (Kawaguchi et al, 2020). This could have an impact on developing extra-terrestrial habitats and ecological restoration, but could help study the potential of panspermia and microbe transfer, and the exploration of extinct and extant life
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