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Title: Common Yeast Can Survive Martian Conditions

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/10/15/0...

A new study shows that common baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) can
survive Mars-like conditions, including meteorite shock waves and toxic
perchlorate salts found in Martian soil. Phys.org reports: Published in PNAS
Nexus, Purusharth I. Rajyaguru and colleagues subjected Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, which is a widely used model yeast, to shock waves and
perchlorates. The authors chose the yeast in part because it has already been
studied in space. When stressed, yeast, humans, and many other organisms form
ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates, structures made of RNA and proteins that
protect RNA and affect the fates of mRNAs. When the stressor passes, the RNP
condensates, which include subtypes known as stress granules and P-bodies,
disassemble. The authors simulated Martian shock waves at the High-Intensity
Shock Tube for Astrochemistry (HISTA) housed in the Physical Research
Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Yeast exposed to 5.6 Mach intensity shock
waves survived with slowed growth, as did yeast subjected to 100 mM sodium
salt of perchlorate (NaClO4) -- a concentration similar to that in Martian
soils. Yeast cells also survived exposure to the combined stress of shock
waves and perchlorate stress. In both cases, the yeast assembled RNP
condensates. Shock waves induced the assembly of stress granules and P-
bodies; perchlorate caused yeast to make P-bodies but not stress granules.
Mutants incapable of assembling RNP condensates were poor at surviving the
Martian stress condition. Transcriptome analysis identified specific RNA
transcripts perturbed by Mars-like conditions.

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