Microbiological research has made important discoveries about how life responds to non-terrestrial environments, such as those found aboard the International Space Station. As human space exploration transitions to longer, deep-space missions, microorganisms will continue to play an increasingly critical role in astronaut health, habitat sustainability and mission success.
References
Yang, J. et al. in Methods in Microbiology Vol. 45 (eds Gurtler, V. & Trevors, J. T.) Ch. 1 (Academic Press, 2018).
Wilson, J. W. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 16299–16304 (2007).
Gilbert, R. et al. NPJ Microgravity 6, 4 (2020).
Nickerson, C. A., Pellis, N. R. & Ott, C. M. (eds) Effect of Spaceflight and Spaceflight Analogue Culture on Human and Microbial Cells: Novel Insights into Disease Mechanisms (Springer, 2016).
Nickerson, C. A., Ott, C. M., Wilson, J. W., Ramamurthy, R. & Pierson, D. L. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 68, 345–361 (2004).
Nickerson, C. A. et al. Infect. Immun. 68, 3147–3152 (2000).
Singh, N. K., Wood, J. M., Karouia, F. & Venkateswaran, K. Microbiome 6, 204 (2018).
Wilson, J. W. et al. PLoS ONE 3, e3923 (2008).
Ott, C. M. et al. in Stress Challenges and Immunity in Space: From Mechanisms to Monitoring and Preventive Strategies (ed Choukèr, A.) 327–355 (Springer International Publishing, 2020).
Kim, W. et al. PLoS ONE 8, e62437 (2013).
Leveson-Gower, D., McLean,R. J. C. & Nickerson, C. A. Bacterial Adhesion and Corrosion (SpaceX-21) (NASA, 2020); https://www.nasa.gov/ames/research/space-biosciences/bacterial-adhesion-and-corrosion-spacex-21
Stodieck, L. S., Klaus, D. M., Moeller, R., Muecklich, F. & Zea, L. Characterization of Biofilm Formation, Growth, and Gene Expression on Different Materials and Environmental Conditions in Microgravity (NASA, 2021); https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7955
Garrett-Bakelman, F. E. et al. Science 364, eaau8650 (2019).
Ichijo, T., Yamaguchi, N., Tanigaki, F., Shirakawa, M. & Nasu, M. NPJ Microgravity 2, 16007 (2016).
Turroni, S. et al. Front. Physiol. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.553929 (2020).
Stahl-Rommel, S. et al. Genes 12, 106 (2021).
Oubre, C. M., Pierson, D. L. & Ott, C. M. in Space Physiology and Medicine: From Evidence to Practice (eds Nicogossian, A. E., Williams, R. S., Huntoon, C. L., Doarn, C. R., Polk, J. D. & Schneider, V. S.) 155–167 (Springer, 2016).
Acknowledgements
C.A.N., J.B. and C.M.O. were funded by NASA grants NNX15AL06G, NNX17AC79G, 80NSSC18K1478 (includes NASA PECASE funding to J.B.) and 80NSSC20K0016. Many of the topics discussed here were the focus of a Nature conference, The Microbiology of Human Spaceflight, held at the NASA Johnson Space Center in June, 2019; we thank the participants of that conference for their ideas and discussions (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-microbiology-of-human-spaceflight-conference-proceedings).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
C.A.N. and C.M.O. drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the revisions and final draft of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
C.A.N. is the editor-in-chief for npj Microgravity, C.M.O. is deputy editor and J.B. is an editor.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nickerson, C.A., Medina-Colorado, A.A., Barrila, J. et al. A vision for spaceflight microbiology to enable human health and habitat sustainability. Nat Microbiol 7, 471–474 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-01015-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-01015-6
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Domains of life sciences in spacefaring: what, where, and how to get involved
npj Microgravity (2024)
-
Toward sustainable space exploration: a roadmap for harnessing the power of microorganisms
Nature Communications (2023)