Rare Microbes Discovered Living Inside the International Space Station

Rare microbes fill unique ecological niches and may hold blueprints for powerful new technologies like antibiotics.

Now, a new paper reports the discovery and characterization of five bacterial species isolated from various ISS environmental surfaces constituting four different genera (Arthrobacter, Leifsonia, Paenibacillus and Sporosarcina).

Rare microbes fill unique ecological niches and may hold blueprints for powerful new technologies like antibiotics.

Now, a new paper reports the discovery and characterization of five bacterial species isolated from various ISS environmental surfaces constituting four different genera (Arthrobacter, Leifsonia, Paenibacillus and Sporosarcina).

The cell size and colony morphology of all five novel species. Scanning Electronic Micrograph images of several novel bacterial species identified aboard the ISS in the Microbial Tracking studies.

These species appear to be quite rare on the ISS and had several intriguing characteristics including potential resistance to seven drug classes, predicted production of the antibiotic thiopeptide, and predicted production of alkylresorcinol, which exhibits various activities including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant.

Findings from this study contributes to our understanding of the microbial ecosystem on the ISS and lays the groundwork for further investigation into the potential implications of these novel species for the health and well-being of the ISS crew.

Phylogenetic tree of Arthrobacter species including strain IIF3SC-B10T based on (a) 16S rRNA genes and (b) 138 single-copy core genes of phylum Actinobacteria, keeping Kocuria rhizophila as an outgroup. — Nature

Phylogenomics, phenotypic, and functional traits of five novel (Earth-derived) bacterial species isolated from the International Space Station and their prevalence in metagenomes, Nature (open access)

Astrobiology