The Ground-Based BIOMEX Experiment Verification Tests for Life Detection on Mars
Claudia Pacelli,
Alessia Cassaro,
Ilaria Catanzaro,
Mickael Baqué,
Alessandro Maturilli,
Ute Böttger,
Elke Rabbow,
Jean-Pierre Paul de Vera,
Silvano Onofri
Affiliations
Claudia Pacelli
Italian Space Agency, Via del Politecnico snc, 00133 Rome, Italy
Alessia Cassaro
Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Ilaria Catanzaro
Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Mickael Baqué
Research Group Astrobiological Laboratories, Institute of Planetary Research, Management and Infrastructure, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Rutherfordstraße 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Alessandro Maturilli
Research Group Astrobiological Laboratories, Institute of Planetary Research, Management and Infrastructure, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Rutherfordstraße 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Ute Böttger
Institute of Optical Sensor Systems, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Rutherfordstraße 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Elke Rabbow
Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Radiation Biology, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany
Jean-Pierre Paul de Vera
Space Operations and Astronaut Training, MUSC, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne, Germany
Silvano Onofri
Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Largo dell’Università snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
The success of an astrobiological search for life campaign on Mars, or other planetary bodies in the Solar System, relies on the detectability of past or present microbial life traces, namely, biosignatures. Spectroscopic methods require little or no sample preparation, can be repeated almost endlessly, and can be performed in contact or even remotely. Such methods are therefore ideally suited to use for the detection of biosignatures, which can be confirmed with supporting instrumentation. Here, we discuss the use of Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopies for the detection and characterization of biosignatures from colonies of the fungus Cryomyces antarcticus, grown on Martian analogues and exposed to increasing doses of UV irradiation under dried conditions. The results report significant UV-induced DNA damage, but the non-exceeding of thresholds for allowing DNA amplification and detection, while the spectral properties of the fungal melanin remained unaltered, and pigment detection and identification was achieved via complementary analytical techniques. Finally, this work found that fungal cell wall compounds, likely chitin, were not degraded, and were still detectable even after high UV irradiation doses. The implications for the preservation and detection of biosignatures in extraterrestrial environments are discussed.
