Earth’s Cryosphere, 2019, Vol. XXIII, No. 6, p. 23-30
PERMAFROST MICROORGANISMS IN THE OUTER SPACE: RESULTS OF THE “EXOBIOFROST” EXPERIMENT
E.M. Rivkina, E.V. Spirina, A.V. Shatilovich, L.A. Shmakova, A.A. Abramov
Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RAS,
2, Institutskaya str., Pushchino, Moscow region, 142290, Russia; elizaveta.rivkina@gmail.com
Results of the Exobiofrost experiment aboard the BION-M1 biosatellite showed that the impact of space flight factors (ionizing radiation, g-force, and temperature fluctuations) did not lead to complete sterilization of the permafrost samples. The post-flight analysis of samples revealed that a significant part of the bacterial community has remained viable after the space experiment. Assessment of the protist resistance showed that resting cysts of contemporary ciliates are more stable under stressful space conditions, than ancient, while Colpoda steinii strains are more resistant than ciliate Exocolpoda augustini. The greatest resistance to space flight conditions demonstrated by acanthamoeba cysts (Acanthamoeba sp.) allows us to view them as model organisms for both terrestrial and extraterrestrial experiments in future.
Permafrost, microorganisms, outer space