As humans plan long-duration space travel, biofilms could be an important solution to enable extended stays in space, according to a study by researchers from the University of Glasgow, Maynooth University and University College Dublin, who are collaborating through the GeneLab Microbial Analysis Working Group and NASA’s Open Science Data Repository to advance research, innovation and understanding of biofilms and their impact on human and plant health during long-duration space missions.

This study highlights that biofilms are organized microbial communities structured within a matrix of microbial polymers that define how microorganisms interact with their hosts. On Earth, these host-biofilm interactions underlie important functions across human and plant tissues, such as nutrient uptake and utilization, stress tolerance, and pathogen control.

Research shows that in space, these long-standing interactions can be disrupted, requiring coordinated and detailed investigation.

Katherine J. Baxter

“While biofilms are often considered from an infectious disease perspective and treated as a problem to be eliminated, they are actually a common microbial lifestyle that supports healthy biological systems,” says Catherine J. Baxter, lead author and coordinator of the British Journal of Astrobiology. biomedical science association, university of glasgow.

“Spaceflight provides a unique and valuable test bed for biofilm organization and function, and importantly, evidence to date reveals that biofilms need to be better understood, managed, and perhaps engineered to protect health during spaceflight,” Baxter added.

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outlook article npj biofilm and microbiome Understanding the structure and function of biofilms across communities of multiple species in complex biological systems requires advanced genetic and biochemical “multi-omics” approaches.

“Plants are at the center of long-duration spaceflight missions, and plant performance depends on biofilm interactions within and around the plant root system. By combining diverse genetics and biochemistry, modern multi-omics has the exciting ability to uncover new biofilm mechanisms from spaceflight responses, and we are beginning to close major gaps in our understanding of signaling and metabolism at the biofilm-plant root interface,” said co-author and metabolomics expert Esther Sass. Maynooth University.

The research was coordinated through the NASA Open Science Data Repository and focused on open science standards, shared methodologies and transparent analysis, maximizing learnings from expensive space experiments and applying discoveries to Earth, the statement said.

Nicholas J.B. Brereton

“This research reflects collaboration across the globe, with a strong open science community for common thinking and common discovery. Value translation is carried out both ways that spaceflight can reveal new biology under unfamiliar stress. It “These insights not only tell us a lot about how life survives in space, but also inform approaches to health and agriculture on Earth,” said lead author Professor Nicholas J.B. Brereton from University College Dublin.