dc.contributor.author	Cortesão, Marta
dc.contributor.author	de Haas, Aram
dc.contributor.author	Unterbusch, Rebecca
dc.contributor.author	Fujimori, Akira
dc.contributor.author	Schütze, Tabea
dc.contributor.author	Meyer, Vera
dc.contributor.author	Möller, Ralf
dc.date.accessioned	2020-05-12T04:53:26Z
dc.date.available	2020-05-12T04:53:26Z
dc.date.issued	2020-04-03
dc.date.updated	2020-04-03T11:33:38Z
dc.description.abstract	The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is one of the main contaminants of the International Space Station (ISS). It forms highly pigmented, airborne spores that have thick cell walls and low metabolic activity, enabling them to withstand harsh conditions and colonize spacecraft surfaces. Whether A. niger spores are resistant to space radiation, and to what extent, is not yet known. In this study, spore suspensions of a wild-type and three mutant strains (with defects in pigmentation, DNA repair, and polar growth control) were exposed to X-rays, cosmic radiation (helium- and iron-ions) and UV-C (254 nm). To assess the level of resistance and survival limits of fungal spores in a long-term interplanetary mission scenario, we tested radiation doses up to 1000 Gy and 4000 J/m2. For comparison, a 360-day round-trip to Mars yields a dose of 0.66 ± 0.12 Gy. Overall, wild-type spores of A. niger were able to withstand high doses of X-ray (LD90 = 360 Gy) and cosmic radiation (helium-ion LD90 = 500 Gy; and iron-ion LD90 = 100 Gy). Drying the spores before irradiation made them more susceptible toward X-ray radiation. Notably, A. niger spores are highly resistant to UV-C radiation (LD90 = 1038 J/m2), which is significantly higher than that of other radiation-resistant microorganisms (e.g., Deinococcus radiodurans). In all strains, UV-C treated spores (1000 J/m2) were shown to have decreased biofilm formation (81% reduction in wild-type spores). This study suggests that A. niger spores might not be easily inactivated by exposure to space radiation alone and that current planetary protection guidelines should be revisited, considering the high resistance of fungal spores.	en
dc.identifier.eissn	1664-302X
dc.identifier.uri	https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/handle/11303/11112
dc.identifier.uri	http://dx.doi.org/10.14279/depositonce-10002
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	en
dc.subject.ddc	570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie	de
dc.subject.other	Aspergillus niger	en
dc.subject.other	A. niger spores	en
dc.subject.other	spore survival	en
dc.subject.other	space	en
dc.subject.other	radiation	en
dc.subject.other	X-ray	en
dc.subject.other	UV	en
dc.subject.other	international space station	en
dc.title	Aspergillus niger Spores Are Highly Resistant to Space Radiation	en
dc.type	Article	en
dc.type.version	publishedVersion	en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.articlenumber	560	en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.doi	10.3389/fmicb.2020.00560	en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.journaltitle	Frontiers in Microbiology	en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.originalpublishername	Frontiers Media S.A.	en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.originalpublisherplace	Lausanne	en
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.volume	11	en
tub.accessrights.dnb	free	en
tub.affiliation	Fak. 3 Prozesswissenschaften::Inst. Biotechnologie::FG Angewandte und Molekulare Mikrobiologie	de
tub.affiliation.faculty	Fak. 3 Prozesswissenschaften	de
tub.affiliation.group	FG Angewandte und Molekulare Mikrobiologie	de
tub.affiliation.institute	Inst. Biotechnologie	de
tub.publisher.universityorinstitution	Technische Universität Berlin	en

Aspergillus niger Spores Are Highly Resistant to Space Radiation

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