A team of scientists from around the world, including the University of Gottingen, looked at the potential for Kombucha culture to live in conditions similar to those of Mars.
Kambucha is a drink made by fermenting sugar cane with Kambucha culture, a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It is also known as tea fungus or mushroom tea.
Despite the destruction of the microbial ecosystem of the Kambucha culture by the simulated Mars environment, a cellulose-producing bacterial species survived.
Scientists from the "Biology and Mars Experiment" (BIOMEX) project, with the help of the European Space Agency, launched the Cambucha culture on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014.
The goal was to learn more about the strength of cellulose as a biomarker, the genetic architecture of Kambucha, and its ability to survive in alien environments.
After spending a year and a half on a simulated Mars outside the ISS, the specimens were activated on Earth and cultured for another two and a half years
Research shows that bacteria have the ability to survive in foreign environments because of the cellulose they make.
This is also the first evidence that bacterial cellulose can be used as a biomarker for extraterrestrial life, and cellulose-based .......
membranes or films can be used to preserve life and produce consumer goods in interplanetary communities.