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The SPORES experiment of the EXPOSE-R mission: Bacillus subtilis spores in artificial meteorites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Corinna Panitz ,
Gerda Horneck ,
Elke Rabbow ,
Petra Rettberg ,
Ralf Moeller ,
Jean Cadet ,
Thierry Douki  and
Guenther Reitz
Corinna Panitz*
Affiliation:
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, DLR, D-51147 Cologne, Germany Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, RWTH/Klinikum Aachen, D-52074 Aachen, Germany
Gerda Horneck
Affiliation:
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, DLR, D-51147 Cologne, Germany
Elke Rabbow
Affiliation:
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, DLR, D-51147 Cologne, Germany
Petra Rettberg
Affiliation:
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, DLR, D-51147 Cologne, Germany
Ralf Moeller
Affiliation:
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, DLR, D-51147 Cologne, Germany
Jean Cadet
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Lésions des Acides Nucléiques, Institut Nanosciences et Cryogénie/SCIB UMR-E3 CEA-UJF/CEA Grenoble, 38054 Grenoble, France
Thierry Douki
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Lésions des Acides Nucléiques, Institut Nanosciences et Cryogénie/SCIB UMR-E3 CEA-UJF/CEA Grenoble, 38054 Grenoble, France
Guenther Reitz
Affiliation:
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, DLR, D-51147 Cologne, Germany
*
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

The experiment SPORES ‘Spores in artificial meteorites’ was part of European Space Agency's EXPOSE-R mission, which exposed chemical and biological samples for nearly 2 years (March 10, 2009 to February 21, 2011) to outer space, when attached to the outside of the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The overall objective of the SPORES experiment was to address the question whether the meteorite material offers enough protection against the harsh environment of space for spores to survive a long-term journey in space by experimentally mimicking the hypothetical scenario of Lithopanspermia, which assumes interplanetary transfer of life via impact-ejected rocks. For this purpose, spores of Bacillus subtilis 168 were exposed to selected parameters of outer space (solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation at λ>110 or >200 nm, space vacuum, galactic cosmic radiation and temperature fluctuations) either as a pure spore monolayer or mixed with different concentrations of artificial meteorite powder. Total fluence of solar UV radiation (100–400 nm) during the mission was 859 MJ m−2. After retrieval the viability of the samples was analysed. A Mission Ground Reference program was performed in parallel to the flight experiment. The results of SPORES demonstrate the high inactivating potential of extraterrestrial UV radiation as one of the most harmful factors of space, especially UV at λ>110 nm. The UV-induced inactivation is mainly caused by photodamaging of the DNA, as documented by the identification of the spore photoproduct 5,6-dihydro-5(α-thyminyl)thymine. The data disclose the limits of Lithopanspermia for spores located in the upper layers of impact-ejected rocks due to access of harmful extraterrestrial solar UV radiation.

Keywords

Bacillus subtilisbacterial sporesInternational Space StationLithopanspermiaspace experiment
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 14 , Special Issue 1: SPECIAL ISSUE: EXPOSE-R , January 2015 , pp. 105 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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