Scientists talked about the strange behavior of viruses during the experiment on the ISS

Scientists from the United States drew attention to the mutual evolution of bacteria and bacteriophage viruses on board the International Space Station (ISS) and pointed out the strangeness of their interactions. This was reported on January 13 in the journal PLoS Biology.

The experiment was conducted with cultures of E. coli and T7 bacteriophages delivered to the station in February 2020. Some of the bacteria were cultured for 1-4 hours, and the other for three weeks. In this way, experts were able to study how life in outer space affects the interaction of microbes and viruses and the course of joint evolution.

According to the researchers, the result of the experiments demonstrates that life in space changes the nature of the interaction of bacteria and viruses with each other. They noticed a holistic deceleration of infections, as well as the evolution in zero gravity of both forms, which is characteristically different from the process on Earth.

"Studying cosmic bacteriophages will help us create viruses capable of destroying drug—resistant terrestrial pathogens," the text of the study says.

It is also specified that in the first hours of space life, the number of microbes decreased significantly. It is emphasized that this happened even in the absence of a virus threat. Subsequently, the E. coli population recovered and acquired mutations uncharacteristic of bacterial cultures.

Scientists claim that experiments have shown the ability of viruses from the ISS to actively destroy not only ordinary microbes, but also dangerous strains of E. coli. They also stressed that they intend to continue experiments with bacteriophages on board the station.

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The Space publication on November 22 last year reported on a moss that survived in space and was able to continue growing on Earth. It was specified that the plant had spent nine months in outer space. According to the researchers, the discovery demonstrates that life that evolved on Earth has survival mechanisms even in extreme space conditions.

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