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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2009, p. 3484-3491, Vol. 75, No. 11
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02565-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Cultivation of Anaerobic and Facultatively Anaerobic Bacteria from Spacecraft-Associated Clean Rooms{triangledown}

Michaela Stieglmeier,1,2 Reinhard Wirth,1 Gerhard Kminek,2 and Christine Moissl-Eichinger1*

Lehrstuhl fuer Mikrobiologie und Archaeenzentrum, Universitaet Regensburg, Universitaetsstrasse 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany,1 European Space Agency-ESA/ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ Noordwijk, The Netherlands2

Received 10 November 2008/ Accepted 31 March 2009

In the course of this biodiversity study, the cultivable microbial community of European spacecraft-associated clean rooms and the Herschel Space Observatory located therein were analyzed during routine assembly operations. Here, we focused on microorganisms capable of growing without oxygen. Anaerobes play a significant role in planetary protection considerations since extraterrestrial environments like Mars probably do not provide enough oxygen for fully aerobic microbial growth. A broad assortment of anaerobic media was used in our cultivation strategies, which focused on microorganisms with special metabolic skills. The majority of the isolated strains grew on anaerobic, complex, nutrient-rich media. Autotrophic microorganisms or microbes capable of fixing nitrogen were also cultivated. A broad range of facultatively anaerobic bacteria was detected during this study and also, for the first time, some strictly anaerobic bacteria (Clostridium and Propionibacterium) were isolated from spacecraft-associated clean rooms. The multiassay cultivation approach was the basis for the detection of several bacteria that had not been cultivated from these special environments before and also led to the discovery of two novel microbial species of Pseudomonas and Paenibacillus.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Lehrstuhl fuer Mikrobiologie und Archaeenzentrum, Universitaet Regensburg, Universitaetsstrasse 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany. Phone: 49 (0) 941 943 4534. Fax: 49 (0) 941 943 1824. E-mail: christine.moissl-eichinger{at}biologie.uni-regensburg.de

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 10 April 2009.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2009, p. 3484-3491, Vol. 75, No. 11
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02565-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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