Tersicoccus phoenicis is the name of bacteria that can enter an extreme dormant state, like "playing dead" to survive in some of the cleanest environments on Earth, including spacecraft assembly rooms, as per microbiologists at the University of Houston.
In a report published in Microbiology Spectrum, scientists shared details about the bacteria, highlighting why stringent cleanliness standards are needed to prevent accidental contamination and outbreaks.
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As per the researchers, T. phoenicis, originally discovered more than a decade ago in two clean rooms in Florida and French Guiana, can intentionally suspend its metabolism, making it difficult to detect through standard sterilisation checks. The bacteria can also survive extreme dehydration, nutrient deprivation, and even resist sterilisation efforts. They can revive and resume biological activities when given a specific protein.
"It shows that some microbes can enter ultra-low metabolic states that let them survive extremely austere environments, including clean rooms that naturally select for the hardiest organisms," Nils Averesch, Ph.D, an assistant professor in the University of Florida's Department of Microbiology and Cell Science and a member of the Astraeus Space Institute, said as quoted by phys.org.
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"The fact that this bacterium can intentionally suspend its metabolism makes survival on spacecraft surfaces or during deep-space cruise more plausible than previously assumed."
This discovery also raises questions about microbial survival on spacecraft and the challenges of preventing contamination during missions to other planets.
"What stood out most to me is that these microbes don't form spores," Averesch said. "Seeing a non-spore-former achieve comparable robustness through metabolic shutdown alone suggests there are additional, underappreciated survival mechanisms in bacteria that we haven't fully characterized."
