Bacteria 'super' are resistant to drugs when in outer space

Not only adjusting to adapting to life in a new environment, some of the bacteria brought to the space station became even stronger when it was able to resist antibiotics.

Researchers have discovered a number of species of bacteria that have strong antibiotic resistance in space , giving us a closer look at how these microbial cells survive when taken to space.

Researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have planned and conducted an experiment on the ISS International Space Station. Normally in Earth's environment, gentamicin sulfate antibiotic can be used to kill Escherichia Coli (E.Coli) bacteria quite easily.

However, the story is completely different when taking them out into space. When exposed to gentamicin sulfate, E. coli was not only destroyed but also increased by 13 times in number and 73% in size per cell.

The bacteria on the space station (right) have developed more airbags.

This means that bacteria have changed the mechanism of action when they are in outer space.

One of the researchers, Luis Zea, said: "We know that bacteria work differently in space and require a higher level of antibiotics to destroy them. Our new research to systematically analyze the physical changes of bacteria during the experiment ".

Researchers believe that due to the lack of gravity of the ISS, the area of ​​drug interaction on bacteria will be limited. In addition, they develop cells into clusters, causing the membrane to encase and thicken the cell wall, thereby forming a shield to protect the cells from being destroyed.

The scientists also discovered a large number of small capsules called air sacs , which are used as transmitters for bacterial cells to carry out the transmission process.

Zea said: 'The increase in the thickness of the cell envelope and the outer membrane shows the resistance mechanism that is activated in the spatial simulation field. This experiment, as well as other similar experiments, allows us to better understand how antibiotic resistance of bacteria on the Earth is made. '

Zea also pointed out that experiments at the ISS will be extremely useful if this mechanism of bacterial resistance continues to occur when it is brought to Earth.

We still don't know why some bacteria have better antibiotic ability than space but we can believe that other similar experiments in the future can explain this.

Rick Mastracchio, NASA astronaut, is monitoring the experiment on ISS.

There are many issues that need to be studied, but the most important is the need to find the impact of the vacuum environment and the atmosphere on the bacteria. On the positive side, the persistent survival of this group of microorganisms in space has opened up hope for a new beginning of life on distant planets in space.

Now astronauts are faced with the continuous development of Earth microbes brought to space stations for research. These bacteria can threaten the health of astronauts. And if any astronaut is infected in the mission of conquering Mars, we also need to know how to handle it.

Understanding the mechanism of these bacteria not only contributes to the protection of astronauts' health but also protects the planets that people are targeting.

Louis Stodieck, a researcher at the University of Colorado, said: "The zero gravity environment in the space is a special research environment that helps develop new technologies, new products and new processes, benefiting useful not only for astronauts but also for humans on Earth ".