Researchers from the University of Hyderabad, in coordination with NASA, have found four new strains of bacteria aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Of the four, three were previously detected, and the fourth was identified as Methylorubrum rhodesianum bacteria. Researchers have now proposed naming this microbe Methylobacterium ajmalii, after Seyed Ajmal Khan, who is a professor at Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu.
The four new bacteria found belong to the Methylobacteriaceae family, which is commonly found in soil and freshwater. Experts have visited that they support plant growth on the space station by repairing nitrogen, interfering with biocontrol activity among other things. Their discovery has now enabled the space station to deliberately stimulate plant growth through long space missions.
Moreover, this discovery has raised questions about survival in the outdoor space. Experts believe they may have been transferred to the ISS from Earth – either alive since the station began or arriving with astronaut payloads. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
“Because these ISS series were isolated at different times and from different locations, their stability in the ISS environment and ecological importance in the closed systems deserve further study,” wrote the Indian-American team that conducted the analysis.
Expanding studies
As part of an ongoing survey mission, eight locations on the ISS were monitored for bacterial growth and have been for the past 6 years, researchers said. These sample areas include where the team gathers or where experiments are performed, such as the plant growth room. Although hundreds of bacterial samples from the ISS have been studied so far, about 1,000 samples have been collected from various other locations on the space station but are awaiting a trip back to Earth where they can be studied.