UniverScience

https://sites.google.com/view/extremophileandoffearth/homepage

https://youtu.be/tvreu5BvyEQ

This project aims, in a didactic way, to spread science to everyone, in order to make complex terms in understandable terms and bring curiosities about the extremophile life forms on our planet, in addition to other organisms (from all biological domains) with very interesting and cool!

Traveling through different scientific fields, making the project interdisciplinary, we can make a comprehensive analysis of how peculiar properties of an organism can be strengthened when combined with other biochemical characteristics, perhaps physical.

When we study this, we see the impacts of extraterrestrial space conditions on an organism. From this, with research into adaptation technologies, we can adapt long-term exploration missions or even missions to populate new planets.

We will also present the concept of Astrobiology, which has been gaining more and more strength in recent years, and as said, it is an interdisciplinary field that covers several topics, as will our project, and we intend to show the beauties of Astrophysics, Molecular Biology and Chemical.

We will use Data from:

• Canadian Space Agency to understand the effects of space on the body (https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/space-medicine/concerns.asp);
• NASA GeneLab for proteomics, transcriptomics, genomics, and others (https://genelab.nasa.gov/);
• NASA Life Science Portal to understand muscle physiology, behavior and performance, cell and molecular biology https://nlsp.nasa.gov/explore/lsdahome).

The experience with Space Apps provides a search for unique content, which progresses in the formation of interdisciplinary knowledge. These discussions, real or not (like the superhero), provoke the joining of perspectives to establish new strands of scientific research.

The challenge of creating a superhero was fascinating, as we were able to address distinct biological characteristics already established: use of chitin exoskeleton? Possibility of regeneration? Use different physical phenomena for body structuring? Among an infinity of possibilities, which adapt to different environments, which is the most interesting for the project? That's why the challenge chosen, "Build a Space Biology Superhero", seemed so interesting.

From this, we decided to focus on the resistance of extremophiles: living in very high or very low temperatures, in saline environments, with high concentrations of acids or bases, or in radioactive places is something that draws attention. To understand how these organisms perform these "skills" is to know how we can build adaptive technologies.

The biggest challenge encountered was the production of the "Project Demo", given the lack of familiarity with audiovisual production. In this way, we resorted to the creation of a video that provided all the information possible in the given time, in order to direct the viewer to our website. The use of emblematic figures in our construction, such as the tardigrade and the axolotl, highlighted the resistance and regeneration bias that we focused on.

We will base ourselves on the following references:

• Voss, S. R. et al. HDAC Regulates Transcription at the Outset of Axolotl Tail Regeneration. Sci Rep9, 6751 (2019);
• Horikawa, D. D. et al. Establishment of a Rearing System of the Extremotolerant Tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus : A New Model Animal for Astrobiology. Astrobiology 8, 549–556 (2008);
• Rizzo, A. M. et al. Antioxidant defences in hydrated and desiccated states of the tardigrade Paramacrobiotus richtersi. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 156, 115–121 (2010);
• Afshinnekoo, E. et al. Fundamental Biological Features of Spaceflight: Advancing the Field to Enable Deep-Space Exploration. Cell183, 1162–1184 (2020);
• Rampelotto, P. Extremophiles and Extreme Environments. Life3, 482–485 (2013);
• Koukouvinis, P., Bruecker, C. & Gavaises, M. Unveiling the physical mechanism behind pistol shrimp cavitation. Sci Rep7, 13994 (2017);
• Wang, M.-H. et al. Timing Does Matter: Nerve-Mediated HDAC1 Paces the Temporal Expression of Morphogenic Genes During Axolotl Limb Regeneration. Front. Cell Dev. Biol.9, 641987 (2021);
• Schaap, P. et al. The Physarum polycephalum Genome Reveals Extensive Use of Prokaryotic Two-Component and Metazoan-Type Tyrosine Kinase Signaling. Genome Biol Evol8, 109–125 (2016);
• Ray, S. K. et al. Information Transfer During Food Choice in the Slime Mold Physarum polycephalum. Front. Ecol. Evol.7, 67 (2019);
• Martell, L., Piraino, S., Gravili, C. & Boero, F. Life cycle, morphology and medusa ontogenesis of Turritopsis dohrnii (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa). Italian Journal of Zoology83, 390–399 (2016);
• Nagy, K.A.; Gruchacz, M.J. Seasonal water and energy metabolism of the desert-dwelling kangaroo rat. Physiological Zoology 67(6): 1461-1478 (1994);
• Cziko, P. A., DeVries, A. L., Evans, C. W. & Cheng, C.-H. C. Antifreeze protein-induced superheating of ice inside Antarctic notothenioid fishes inhibits melting during summer warming. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, 14583–14588 (2014);
• Olah, L. V. Cytological and Morphological Investigations in Rafflesia arnoldi R. Br. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club87, 406 (1960).

#biology #extremophiles #survival #regeneration #astrobiology #space #chemistry #microorganism #spaceeffects #bodyinspace #molecularbiology #physiologicaleffects #neworganisms