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Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects

As human activity in space continues to increase, understanding how biological assets respond to spaceflight conditions is becoming more important. Spaceflight conditions include exposure to ionizing radiation, microgravity, spacecraft vibrations and hypervelocity; all of which can affect the viabil...

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Autores principales: Cordero, Radames J. B., Dragotakes, Quigly, Friello, Phyllis J., Casadevall, Arturo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9326845/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35852045
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.13078
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author Cordero, Radames J. B.
Dragotakes, Quigly
Friello, Phyllis J.
Casadevall, Arturo
author_facet Cordero, Radames J. B.
Dragotakes, Quigly
Friello, Phyllis J.
Casadevall, Arturo
author_sort Cordero, Radames J. B.
collection PubMed
description As human activity in space continues to increase, understanding how biological assets respond to spaceflight conditions is becoming more important. Spaceflight conditions include exposure to ionizing radiation, microgravity, spacecraft vibrations and hypervelocity; all of which can affect the viability of biological organisms. Previous studies have shown that melanin‐producing fungi are capable of surviving the vacuum of space and Mars‐simulated conditions in Low Earth Orbit. This survival has been associated in part with the protective effects of melanin, but a comparison of fungal viability in the presence or absence of melanin following spaceflight has never been tested. In this study, we evaluated the protective effects of melanin by comparing the viability of melanized and non‐melanized clones of Cryptococcus neoformans yeasts following a roundtrip to the International Space Station. Yeast colonies were placed inside two MixStix silicone tubes; one stayed on Earth and the other was transported inside for 29 days before returning to Earth. Post‐flight analysis based on colony‐forming unit numbers shows that melanized yeast viability was 50% higher than non‐melanized yeasts, while no difference was observed between the Earth‐bound control samples. The results suggest that fungal melanin could increase the lifespan of biological assets in space.
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spelling pubmed-93268452022-10-14 Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects Cordero, Radames J. B. Dragotakes, Quigly Friello, Phyllis J. Casadevall, Arturo Environ Microbiol Rep Brief Reports As human activity in space continues to increase, understanding how biological assets respond to spaceflight conditions is becoming more important. Spaceflight conditions include exposure to ionizing radiation, microgravity, spacecraft vibrations and hypervelocity; all of which can affect the viability of biological organisms. Previous studies have shown that melanin‐producing fungi are capable of surviving the vacuum of space and Mars‐simulated conditions in Low Earth Orbit. This survival has been associated in part with the protective effects of melanin, but a comparison of fungal viability in the presence or absence of melanin following spaceflight has never been tested. In this study, we evaluated the protective effects of melanin by comparing the viability of melanized and non‐melanized clones of Cryptococcus neoformans yeasts following a roundtrip to the International Space Station. Yeast colonies were placed inside two MixStix silicone tubes; one stayed on Earth and the other was transported inside for 29 days before returning to Earth. Post‐flight analysis based on colony‐forming unit numbers shows that melanized yeast viability was 50% higher than non‐melanized yeasts, while no difference was observed between the Earth‐bound control samples. The results suggest that fungal melanin could increase the lifespan of biological assets in space. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2022-07-19 2022-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9326845/ /pubmed/35852045 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.13078 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology Reports published by Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Brief Reports
Cordero, Radames J. B.
Dragotakes, Quigly
Friello, Phyllis J.
Casadevall, Arturo
Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
title Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
title_full Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
title_fullStr Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
title_full_unstemmed Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
title_short Melanin protects Cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
title_sort melanin protects cryptococcus neoformans from spaceflight effects
topic Brief Reports
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9326845/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35852045
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.13078
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