“Life always finds a way”said Dr. Ian Malcolm in the very first Jurassic Park. This is somewhat what researchers seem to confirm today. They discovered a bacterium capable of surviving in a Martian environment.
Kombucha. It is best known as a drink famous for its benefits on the digestion. It is prepared from a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts immersed in a sweet tea-based solution. A kind of tea mushrooms, in short. And it is in kombucha that the scientists involved in the project “Biology and Mars Experiment” (Biomex) have just discovered a bacterium able to survive the Martian environment.
In 2014, researchers sent kombucha cultures to the international space station (ISS). With the aim, in particular, of studying their survival behavior in conditions similar to those that may exist on Mars. The cultures thus spent a year and a half outside the ISS. Then, the samples were reactivated on Earth and cultured for another two and a half years.
Valuable data for life in space
Bad news, first, since researchers have observed that the Martian environment considerably disturbs theecology microbe of kombucha cultures. But, surprise, since in all this, bacteria of the kind Komagataeibacter managed to survive. Probably thanks to the cellulose they produce. Enough to consider bacterial cellulose as a good biomarker of extraterrestrial life. What also imagine films based on cellulose as a biomaterial to protect life and produce consumer goods in extraterrestrial colonies.
The work of the scientists involved in the Biomex project does not stop there. They could also offer more solutions to future human settlers. One way to develop drug delivery systems that can be used in space, for example. They also warn about the problem of resistance to antibiotics which seems to grow in space.
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