The Space-Exposed Kombucha Microbial Community Member Komagataeibacter oboediens Showed Only Minor Changes in Its Genome After Reactivation on Earth

Abstract

Komagataeibacter is the dominant taxon and cellulose-producing bacteria in the Kombucha Microbial Community (KMC). This is the first study to isolate the K. oboediens genome from a reactivated space-exposed KMC sample and comprehensively characterize it. The space-exposed genome was compared with the Earth-based reference genome to understand the genome stability of K. oboediens under extraterrestrial conditions during a long time. Our results suggest that the genomes of K. oboediens IMBG180 (ground sample) and K. oboediens IMBG185 (space-exposed) are remarkably similar in topology, genomic islands, transposases, prion-like proteins, and number of plasmids and CRISPR-Cas cassettes. Nonetheless, there was a difference in the length of plasmids and the location of cas genes. A small difference was observed in the number of protein coding genes. Despite these differences, they do not affect any genetic metabolic profile of the cellulose synthesis, nitrogen-fixation, hopanoid lipids biosynthesis, and stress-related pathways. Minor changes are only observed in central carbohydrate and energy metabolism pathways gene numbers or sequence completeness. Altogether, these findings suggest that K. oboediens maintains its genome stability and functionality in KMC exposed to the space environment most probably due to the protective role of the KMC biofilm. Furthermore, due to its unaffected metabolic pathways, this bacterial species may also retain some promising potential for space applications.

The Conceptual Approach to the Use of Postbiotics Based on Bacterial Membrane Nanovesicles for Prophylaxis of Astronauts’ Health Disorders

“…In the genome of K. oboediens IMBG180, a key bacterium of the KMC IMBG-1, islands of symbiosis and metabolic and virulence islands were found. However, they defected with any genes lost [78]. Again, the Rho transcription terminator gene was detected for prion-like proteins, but the Rho cPrD (prion-forming) domain was not found in the IMBG180 genome.…”

Space Biology Projects in Ukraine: Nowadays Trends

“…Проєкти з космічної біології в Україні: сучасні тенденції теріями роду Komagataeibacter, та експресії генів, пов'язаних з її біосинтезом після тривалого впливу космічних/марсоподібних стресорів [14,21,46,52,67]. Оскільки виробництво целюлози за допомогою чайного гриба є безвідходним, автори обговорюють його принадність для БСЖ [46,67].…”

Role of Acetic Acid Bacteria in Food and Beverages

“…K. xylinus is considered one of the most important species involved in the fermentation of kombucha due to its superior capacity for cellulose synthesis (37). Table 1 shows the main AAB species involved in Kombucha fermentation (32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37).…”