Human
presence in closed habitats that may one day be used to explore other planets
is associated with changes in the composition of the fungal community - the
mycobiome - that grows on surfaces inside the habitat, according to a new
study.
Dr
Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Caltech, and corresponding author of the study said: "Our
study is the first report on the mycobiome of a simulated habitat meant for the
future human habitation of other planets. We used the Inflatable Lunar/Mars
Analog Habitat (ILMAH), a unique, simulated closed environment that mimics the
conditions found on the International Space Station and possible human habitats
on other planets. We showed that the overall fungal diversity changed when
humans were present."
The
researchers found that certain kinds of fungi -- including known pathogens that
can colonize the human body and cause allergies, asthma and skin infections --
increased in number while humans were living inside the ILMAH. Prolonged stays
in closed habitats might be stressful for inhabitants and thus lead to
decreased immune response, making people more vulnerable to opportunistic
pathogens like fungi.
Dr
Venkateswaran said: "Fungi are extremophiles that can survive harsh
conditions and environments like deserts, caves or nuclear accident sites, and
they are known to be difficult to eradicate from other environments including
indoor and closed spaces. Characterizing and understanding possible changes to,
and survival of, fungal species in environments like the ILMAH is of high
importance since fungi are not only potentially hazardous to the inhabitants
but could also deteriorate the habitats themselves."
Knowing
how fungal communities change in the presence of humans is thus necessary for
the development of appropriate countermeasures to maintain habitats like the
ILMAH or the ISS and to protect the health of the people who live there.
See:
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle