АНАЛИЗ РАЗВИТИЯ, МЕТАБОЛИЗМА И ГЕНЕТИЧЕСКИХ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИК МИКРООРГАНИЗМОВ ПРИ ПОЛЕТАХ НА КОСМИЧЕСКИХ АППАРАТАХ «ФОТОН-М2» И «ФОТОН М3»
© T.A.Voeikova, L.K.Emelyanova, B.V.Tyaglov, L.M.Novikova, T.L.Goins, B.H.Pyle
© Государственный музей истории космонавтики им. К.Э. Циолковского, г. Калуга
Секция "К.Э. Циолковский и проблемы космической медицины и биологии"
2008 г.
In 2007, experiments with microorganisms were conducted during a 12-day flight of the Russian Foton-M3 spacecraft. The flight (F), synchronous control (SC) and laboratory control (LC) specimens were kept at 30C. The objective of the experiments was to study spaceflight effects on the growth, differentiation, pigmentation, enzyme formation, genetic stability of plasmid and crossing between strains.
The strain Streptomyces lividans is a model for studying morphogenesis, genetics, physiology and biochemistry of streptomycetes. It was found that the frequency of strain segregation, enzyme synthesis, pigmentation, and the level of sporulation were higher in F than in SC organisms. The study of plasmid inheritance stability in S. lividans (pIJ702) with an autonomous multicopy plasmid carrying a thiostrepton resistance gene and a gene responsible for melanin synthesis showed that the frequency of plasmid loss in F and LC was similar and lower than in SC specimens. The study of melanin synthesis in this strain demonstrated decreased melanin productivity and increased biomass in F microorganisms. HPTLC analysis of melanin showed that the number, molecular mass and the percentage of fractions were similar in SC and LC but different in F organisms. There were three similar fractions in SC, LC and two fractions in F microorganisms.
The study of spaceflight effects on genetic recombination in crosses between S. coelicolor auxotrophic mutants showed that the frequency of various recombinant classes in F specimens differed from that SC and LC. The frequency of a distal donor marker entry to the recipient in F was higher than in SC and LC, suggesting that in microgravity conjugative anastomoses connecting donor and recipient cells can exist for a longer time. This allows a prolonged horizontal transfer of genetic material from strain to strain, which contributes to enhanced genetic variability of the progeny and its greater adaptability to the space environment.