The kombucha that drinks are made from can live in Martian conditions

Kombucha is used to make a drink known as kombucha: it is produced by fermenting candied

tea using kombucha cultures. The simulated Martian environment destroyed the microbial ecology of kombucha crops, but cellulose-producing bacteria survived. 

Scientists from the project (BIOMEX) have already sentculture of kombucha on the ISS in 2014 with the support of the European Space Agency. The goal was to learn more about how reliable the genomic architecture of kombucha is, as well as how it behaves in extraterrestrial conditions. After a year and a half in simulated Martian conditions outside the ISS, the samples were reactivated on Earth and cultured for another two and a half years.

The authors of the new work based on the results of their experimentstated that the simulated Martian environment dramatically disrupted the microbial ecology of kombucha crops. But the cellulose-producing bacteria, Komagataeibacter, survived.

The results obtained show that cellulose,produced by bacteria is likely responsible for their survival in extraterrestrial conditions. It also provides the first evidence that bacterial cellulose could be a biomarker for extraterrestrial life, and cellulose-based membranes or films could be used as a protective layer for items needed in space. 

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