Unknown microorganisms found on the International Space Station

In a joint study between India and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), scientists discovered four microorganisms on the International Space Station, three of which are currently completely unknown.

Three of the four strains were isolated in 2015 and 2016-one was found on the roof of the International Space Station Research Station, the second was found in the dome cabin, and the third was on the surface of the dining table Found; the fourth type was discovered in an old HEPA filter that returned to Earth in 2011.

These four strains belong to a family of bacteria in soil and freshwater; they are involved in nitrogen fixation, plant growth, and help prevent plant pathogens.

Basically, if you are growing something, there should be bacteria that help it grow around.

You may be wondering what these soil bacteria have been doing on the International Space Station, but the astronauts living on the space station have been growing a small amount of food for many years, so it is not surprising that we find plant-related microorganisms in space .

One of the strains-the discovery of the HEPA filter-was identified as a known species called Methylorubrum rhodesianum.

The other three were sequenced and found to belong to the same, previously unidentified species.
The strains were named IF7SW-B2T, IIF1SW-B5, and IIF4SW-B5.

The research team led by geneticist Swati Bijlani of the University of Southern California proposed to call the new species Methylobacterium Ajalii under the name of the famous Indian biodiversity scientist Ajmal Khan.

This new discovery is also closely related to a known species called Mycobacterium indica.

"To grow plants in extreme areas with the least resources, it is necessary to isolate new microorganisms that help promote plant growth under stressful conditions," said Kasuriven Katzwaran, two research teams at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
KashuriVenkateswaran) and Nitin Kumar Singh (NitinKumarSingh) explained in a press statement.

Considering that we already know that these microorganisms can survive the harsh environment of the International Space Station, the research team put these four strains together through genetic analysis to find genes that can be used to promote plant growth.

The research team wrote in their study: "The whole genome sequence assembly of these three International Space Station (ISS) strains will enable the International Space Station (ISS) isolates to be compared with the Earth counterparts for genome identification in future studies.

" "This will further help determine the genetic determinants that may help promote plant growth under microgravity conditions, and help develop sustainable plant crops for long-term space missions in the future.

" The researchers found that the International Space Station (ISS) ) One of the strains, IF7SW-B2T, has promising genes involved in plant growth, including an enzyme gene necessary for cytokinin, which promotes root and shoot cell division.

The researchers admit that there is still a lot of scientific research work to be done, and they have barely touched the surface of the space station's microbial diversity.

The International Space Station has collected about 1,000 samples, but is still waiting for the journey back to Earth.

The discovery of unknown microorganisms on the International Space Station means that there may be more places with life in the universe than we thought.

Human beings have been searching for life visible to the naked eye in the universe, but it is difficult to find those tiny lives.
The existence of these microorganisms has refreshed our understanding of life in the universe.

(This article comes from "Technology Pilot", with deletions and corrections)