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DNA Survives Short Rocket Trip Into Suborbital Space
Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
New research from a team of European scientists has shown that genetic material is capable of surviving both the hostile environment of suborbital space and the violent passage through Earth’s atmosphere at a high rate of speed, according to a report in the journal PLOS ONE.
The study – nicknamed DARE (DNA atmospheric re-entry experiment) – had originally been planned as a gravity study to be conducted on the inside of the rocket, but researchers ended up applying plasmid DNA molecules to the exterior of a rocket from the TEXUS-49 mission. Upon return to Earth, the genetic material was even able to send information to bacterial and tissue cells.
Plasmid DNA attached to the exterior of a sounding rocket may survive spaceflight. Credit: Adrian Mettauer
“We were totally surprised,” said study author Cora Theil, a researcher from the University of Zurich. “Originally, we designed this experiment as a technology test for biomarker stability during spaceflight and re-entry. We never expected to recover so many intact and functional active DNA.”
The genetic material was attached to the rocket in three different places and contained a fluorescent marker and an antibiotic resistance gene. The researchers said this genetic material was exposed to temperatures over 1000°C during the 780-second flight into the upper reaches of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Tests revealed that DNA was still at least partially present in all locations on the rocket exterior, with a 53 percent recovery in the screw heads. As much as 35 percent of DNA kept its full function, as revealed by its retained capacity to provide antibiotic resistance to bacteria and express a fluorescent marker in tissue cells. The authors said this experimental design could be a powerful analysis to evaluate the stability of DNA throughout atmospheric travel and re-entry, as well as a simulation for nucleic acids that could function as biomarkers in the hunt for extraterrestrial life.
“The results show that it is by no means unlikely that, despite all the safety precautions, space ships could also carry terrestrial DNA to their landing site,” said study author Oliver Ullrich from the University of Zurich. “We need to have this under control in the search for extraterrestrial life.”
Prior research has shown that certain bacteria could live in space for extended periods even with intense ultraviolet and cosmic radiation, particularly when they were to some extent shielded from such dangerous rays by biofilm or other protection.
While tests indicated that certain microbes could last a minimum of 18 months in space, there has been no concrete evidence that DNA could survive reentry, until this study. Earlier trials showed that bacteria and fungi did not stay alive after being inserted into stone samples attached to the outside of a capsule and fired into space. These organisms died due to damage on the genetic level. Interestingly, one study has shown that bacteria survived the space shuttle Columbia disaster, according to Dina Fine Maron of Scientific American.
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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113288918/dna-survives-short-rocket-trip-112814/
