DNA Damage Baseline Predicts Resilience to Space Radiation and Radiotherapy.

Deep space exploration will require real-time, minimally invasive monitoring of astronaut health to mitigate the potential health impairments caused by space radiation and microgravity. Genotoxic stress in humans can be monitored by quantifying the amount of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in immune cells from a simple finger prick. In a cohort of 674 healthy donors, we show that the endogenous level of DSBs increases with age and with latent cytomegalovirus infection.

A new approach to biomining: Bioengineering surfaces for metal recovery from aqueous solutions.

Electronics waste production has been fueled by economic growth and the demand for faster, more efficient consumer electronics. The glass and metals in end-of-life electronics components can be reused or recycled; however, conventional extraction methods rely on energy-intensive processes that are inefficient when applied to recycling e-waste that contains mixed materials and small amounts of metals. To make e-waste recycling economically viable and competitive with obtaining raw materials, recovery methods that lower the cost of metal reclamation and minimize environmental impact need to be developed.

Construction and characterization of metal ion-containing DNA nanowires for synthetic biology and nanotechnology.

DNA is an attractive candidate for integration into nanoelectronics as a biological nanowire due to its linear geometry, definable base sequence, easy, inexpensive and non-toxic replication and self-assembling properties. Recently we discovered that by intercalating Ag in polycytosine-mismatch oligonucleotides, the resulting C-Ag-C duplexes are able to conduct charge efficiently. To map the functionality and biostability of this system, we built and characterized internally-functionalized DNA nanowires through non-canonical, Ag-mediated base pairing in duplexes containing cytosine-cytosine mismatches.

Complete Genome Sequence of . Strain MN05-02, a UV-Resistant Bacterium from a Manganese Deposit in the Sonoran Desert.

strain MN05-02 is a UV-resistant bacterium isolated from a manganese deposit in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA. The LD of this strain is 123 Jm, which is twice that of , and therefore can be a useful resource for comparative study of UV resistance and the role of manganese on this phenotype. Its complete genome is comprised of a chromosome of 3,488,433 bp and a plasmid of 154,991 bp.

Microbiological Decontamination of Water: Improving the Solar Disinfection Technique (SODIS) with the Use of Nontoxic Vital Dye Methylene Blue.

Rational use of water is a major challenge for governments and global organizations, with easy and inexpensive interventions being sought by communities that are not supplied with drinking water. In this context, solar disinfection (SODIS) has shown great efficiency for water disinfection. To speed up the process and improve inactivation, we studied the effects of methylene blue (MB) as a photodynamic agent because of its ability to absorb visible light (red wavelength) and generate singlet oxygen as a reactive species, thereby inactivating bacteria and viruses present in water.

Schrödinger's microbes: Tools for distinguishing the living from the dead in microbial ecosystems.

While often obvious for macroscopic organisms, determining whether a microbe is dead or alive is fraught with complications. Fields such as microbial ecology, environmental health, and medical microbiology each determine how best to assess which members of the microbial community are alive, according to their respective scientific and/or regulatory needs. Many of these fields have gone from studying communities on a bulk level to the fine-scale resolution of microbial populations within consortia.

Extremely high UV-C radiation resistant microorganisms from desert environments with different manganese concentrations.

Desiccation resistance and a high intracellular Mn/Fe ratio contribute to ionizing radiation resistance of Deinococcus radiodurans. We hypothesized that this was a general phenomenon and thus developed a strategy to search for highly radiation-resistant organisms based on their natural environment. While desiccation is a typical feature of deserts, the correlation between radiation resistance and the intracellular Mn/Fe ratio of indigenous microorganisms or the Mn/Fe ratio of the environment, has not yet been described.

Draft Genome Sequence of Hymenobacter sp. Strain AT01-02, Isolated from a Surface Soil Sample in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

Here, we report the 5.09-Mb draft genome sequence of Hymenobacter sp. strain AT01-02, which was isolated from a surface soil sample in the Atacama Desert, Chile.

UV-resistant yeasts isolated from a high-altitude volcanic area on the Atacama Desert as eukaryotic models for astrobiology.

The Sairecabur volcano (5971 m), in the Atacama Desert, is a high-altitude extreme environment with high daily temperature variations, acidic soils, intense UV radiation, and low availability of water. Four different species of yeasts were isolated from this region using oligotrophic media, identified and characterized for their tolerance to extreme conditions. rRNA sequencing revealed high identity (>98%) to Cryptococcus friedmannii, Exophiala sp.

Surface biosignatures of exo-earths: remote detection of extraterrestrial life.

Exoplanet discovery has made remarkable progress, with the first rocky planets having been detected in the central star's liquid water habitable zone. The remote sensing techniques used to characterize such planets for potential habitability and life rely solely on our understanding of life on Earth. The vegetation red edge from terrestrial land plants is often used as a direct signature of life, but it occupies only a small niche in the environmental parameter space that binds life on present-day Earth and has been widespread for only about 460 My.

Isolation of UVC-tolerant bacteria from the hyperarid Atacama Desert, Chile.

Martian surface microbial inhabitants would be challenged by a constant and unimpeded flux of UV radiation, and the study of analog model terrestrial environments may be of help to understand how such life forms could survive under this stressful condition. One of these environments is the Atacama Desert (Chile), a well-known Mars analog due to its extreme dryness and intense solar UV radiation. Here, we report the microbial diversity at five locations across this desert and the isolation of UVC-tolerant microbial strains found in these sites.

Comparative survival analysis of Deinococcus radiodurans and the haloarchaea Natrialba magadii and Haloferax volcanii exposed to vacuum ultraviolet irradiation.

The haloarchaea Natrialba magadii and Haloferax volcanii, as well as the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans, were exposed to vacuum UV (VUV) radiation at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory. Cell monolayers (containing 10(5) to 10(6) cells per sample) were prepared over polycarbonate filters and irradiated under high vacuum (10(-5) Pa) with polychromatic synchrotron radiation. N.

Survival of Deinococcus radiodurans against laboratory-simulated solar wind charged particles.

In this experimental study, cells of the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans were exposed to several different sources of radiation chosen to replicate the charged particles found in the solar wind. Naked cells or cells mixed with dust grains (basalt or sandstone) differing in elemental composition were exposed to electrons, protons, and ions to determine the probability of cell survival after irradiation. Doses necessary to reduce the viability of cell population to 10% (LD(10)) were determined under different experimental conditions.