Researchers find that the microbial profile of the space station’s surface resembles the skin of its crew members.

A study by a national laboratory team and NASA researchers found that the environment of the International Space Station is affected by the microbial composition of the astronauts themselves.

The five-year research effort represents the first study comparing the environmental microbial profile of the space station (or microbiome) with an astronaut’s microbiome using metagenomic DNA sequencing techniques.

His article, published yesterday in the scientific journal. Plus oneIt is the work of scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and three NASA centers: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley and the Johnson Space Center.

“Continuous monitoring of the microbiome on the space station is very important because it will help us identify the potential of any microbes that may harm astronaut health,” said LLNL biologist Crystal Jaing, lead author of the paper and lead researcher at the Microbial Tracking (MT) -2 study.

Scientists characterized the microbial profile of an astronaut, taking 88 samples from the astronaut’s mouth, nose, ear, skin, and saliva, and discovered that the microbiome on the space station’s surfaces resembled the skin of the crew member.

Astronaut samples were collected at eight different times: before flight (22), during flight (33), and after flight (33).

To understand whether the crew microbiome interacted with the space station environment, samples were taken from the environmental surface of eight different habitable locations on the two-flight space station. The astronaut collected environmental samples from one flight whose microbial profile was compiled and samples from the next flight were collected after the astronaut left.

The microbial composition of the astronaut and space station environment samples was measured by metagenomic sequencing and processed using the Livermore Metagenomics Analysis Toolkit, a bioinformatics software that quickly identifies microbes from large amounts of data. of DNA sequence.

Although this study used samples returned from space, NASA has the ability to identify microbes in real time on board the space station, and is also planning real-time microbial monitoring on future spacecraft.

This study is based on the Microbial Tracking-1 project, in which the microbial diversity of the space station’s surfaces and air samples were characterized by conventional microbiology, but did not correlate with the astronaut microbiome. The MT-2 study expanded this study by collecting parallel samples from astronauts, along with samples from the same exact surfaces studied by MT-1.

“We found in this study that the microbial populations on the surfaces of space stations resemble those on the skin of the crew. This could help design preventive measures to minimize the risk against potentially troublesome microorganisms aboard spacecraft destined for travel. long-term spacecraft, “said Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a microbiologist with NASA’s JPL and one of the paper’s co-authors.

The researchers in particular want to understand what changes happen in the microbial communities of the space station during space flight.

“Our primary goal is to understand the microbial communities on the space station, so that we can use that information to design diagnostics and countermeasures to ensure the health of the crew, particularly for long space flights, such as to the moon and Mars,” Jaing said.

Jaing’s colleague and MORE ONE Co-author of the article, NASA Ames microbiologist David Smith agreed, adding that humans carry microorganisms everywhere they travel, including space.

“The long-term measurements from this study will provide information on what microbes associated with spacecraft to expect on a long-running human mission,” said Smith.

The researchers said more study is needed of the impact of microbes on humans in closed environments, as “the beneficial, benign, or harmful pathways associated with microbe-host interactions remain poorly understood both on Earth and in space. “

Astronaut health is protected by routine monitoring of microbes on the space station, along with good nutrition and proper exercise, as well as good personal and space station sanitation processes.

“People with an uncompromised respiratory system and a healthy immune system can generally combat potentially harmful microbes that reside within built habitats. However, human space flight presents new risks that must be considered because astronauts may become more susceptible to infections during long space flight missions, “the scientists wrote.

In their article, the researchers note that the space station, an “island” in space, offers “an unmatched location” to study the interactive dynamics between humans and microorganisms within closed habitats.

In addition to Jaing, Venkateswaran, and Smith, other team members include biologists Nick Be and James Thissen and computer scientist Aram Avila Herrera, all from LLNL; microbiologist Camilla Urbaniak from NASA-JPL; space biologist Fathi Karouia of Blue Marble Space at NASA Ames; and virologist Satish Mehta of Wyle Laboratories Inc. at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

The document is the first of several studies that the research team will publish with new information that could help protect not only astronauts on space exploration missions, but also people on Earth.