With all the mind blowing images coming in from the James Webb telescope, did you know that there are also bacterial space explorers? ⁠ ⁠ Meet Deinococcus radiodurans! ⁠ ⁠ This incredible bacteria can survive for at least three years in space, as shown by a study conducted by Japan’s Kibo lab on the International Space Station (image 2). ⁠ ⁠ D. radiodurans is a polyextremophile, meaning it can survive multiple extreme conditions, including temperature, dehydration, radiation, and the vacuum of space. ​​D. radiodurans, nicknamed “Conan the Bacterium” (after Conan the Barbarian), is one of the toughest bacteria on the planet and is known to live inside nuclear reactors. (The bacteria was discovered in 1956 while they were testing gamma radiation to sterilize canned food.)⁠ ⁠ Several factors make D. radiodurans so resilient. It has unique DNA repair proteins that carry up to 10 copies of redundant DNA (humans carry only 2!). This allows them to produce more proteins that fix DNA damaged by radiation. ⁠ ⁠ Lastly, they found that the outer layers of the cells that died due to the extreme conditions created a shield to protect the other cells below. With those inherent defense mechanisms, the bacteria survived radiation levels over 200x higher than those on Earth. And if that wasn’t impressive enough they have also been found to be helpful in the bioremediation of nuclear waste! ⁠ ⁠ So while images coming in from the @NASA James Webb Telescope are helping us learn more about our universe, and its origins, we can also look to bacteria like D. radiodurans. With its ability to survive so much radiation it could live as long as 2-8 years in space. Insights like this help us investigate the origins of life on Earth, as well as the potential to transfer life to other planets like Mars. ⁠ ⁠ @nasa @nasawebb @iss ⁠ ⁠ Image credits: ⁠ 1. Michael Daly Lab, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD, USA ⁠ 2. JAXA/NASA ⁠ 3-7. NASA ⁠ ⁠ --- ⁠ #BIOFAB #Bacteria ⁠ --- ⁠