Simulated Micro-, Lunar, and Martian Gravities on Earth-Effects on Growth, Phenotype, and Sensitivity to Antibiotics.

Bacterial behavior has been studied under microgravity conditions, but very little is known about it under lunar and Martian gravitational regimes. An Earth-based approach was designed and implemented using inclined clinostats and an in-house-developed code to determine the optimal clinorotation angular speed for bacterial liquid cultures of 5 RPM. With this setup, growth dynamics, phenotypic changes, and sensitivity to antibiotics (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of two different classes of antibiotics) for three strains (including uropathogenic) were examined under simulated micro-, lunar, and Martian gravities.