Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Bacteria Mutations In Space

"The International Space Station (ISS) is the most complex international scientific and engineering project in history and the largest structure humans have ever put into space. This high-flying satellite is a laboratory for new technologies and an observation platform for astronomical, environmental and geological research."
 Bacteria cultured and grown on the International Space Station have been found to be less affected by antibiotics and more virulent that those that were grown here on Earth. This is due to the pressure that is caused by being within a microgravity environment and having population genetics come into play tin that the stronger mutants are surviving. it's important to do tests in microgravity due to putting out astronauts in space and making sure that the environment is a safe place for them to be. That's why a lot of the research on the International Space Station includes model organisms and things like bacteria to protect us humans.

"This new gene expression data therefore provides additional evidence that the altered behavior of bacteria in space results from decreased gravity driving reduced extracellular transport of molecules. Future spaceflight experiments that examine a variety of other bacterial species under differing growth conditions could help explain changes in bacterial growth and virulence that could significantly affect people living in space."
I think that it is wonderful that we have engineered an environment for this type of genetic testing that can further our health field Simply by taking a microarray we can identify changes that occur within other organisms that we put up into a microgravity environment and then be able to monitor ourselves in space and know how long we should be exposed in space before it becomes unhealthy. I see a lot of work going to be with cancer research, studying cell growth, and studying mutants within this environment.

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