Microbial-Observatory-Mini-Book-04-28-14-508

There is much to be gained by employing the microgravity environment ofspaceflight as a basic research platform. Life on Earth evolved in the presence ofgravity. Therefore, performing research in the reduced gravity of spaceflight holdsthe potential to determine how this physical force shaped terrestrial life. Previousspaceflight and ground-based spaceflight analog research has established thateven microorganisms, the smallest Earth-based life forms, are intrinsically able torespond to changes in this force (Dickson 1991, Mishra 1992, Nickerson et al.2000, Nickerson et al. 2004). While over 50 years of microbial research has beenperformed in spaceflight, a thorough understanding of microbial responses tospaceflight culture and how the spaceflight environment stimulates these responsesis only beginning to be understood. Microgravity as a research tool, coupled withcurrent molecular technology, provides researchers the opportunity to establishhow variations in this physical force affect microbial life at the cellular, molecularand evolutionary levels. This potential is not surprising as innovative answers tocomplicated medical, environmental and agricultural questions have arose fromassessing the properties of microorganisms in many extreme environments onEarth (Nickerson et al. 2004). Similarly, the study of microbes in the spaceflightenvironment holds considerable potential for future, basic research and industrialapplications. Investigations into microbial ecology, genotypic and phenotypicproperties, and the infectious disease-causing potential of microorganisms in thespaceflight environment, may unveil novel mechanisms that could not be elucidatedusing traditional approaches on Earth, where gravity may be restricting ourdiscovery of unique cellular responses.Because of both the gaps in our knowledge as to how the spaceflight environmentaffects microorganisms, and the immense prospects associated with conductingresearch in this environment, the National Research Council (NRC) Committeefor the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space 2011 report“Recapturing a Future for Space Exploration: Life and Physical Sciences Researchfor a New Era,” recommended, with emphasis, on establishing a coordinated,large-scale microbial observatory program within the ISS platform. Specifically, thecommittee prioritized:1. The establishment of a microbial observatory program on the ISS to conductlong-term, multigenerational studies of microbial population dynamics.2. The establishment of a robust spaceflight program to research analyzingplant and microbial growth in spaceflight environments and physiologicalresponses to the multiple stimuli encountered in those environments.8