Bacterial Cellulose Could Enable Microbial Life on Mars
Published:08 Jun.2022 Source:University of Göttingen
An international research team including the University of Göttingen has investigated the chances of survival of kombucha cultures under Mars-like conditions. Kombucha is known as a drink, sometimes called tea fungus or mushroom tea, which is produced by fermenting sugared tea using kombucha cultures -- a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.
Although the simulated Martian environment destroyed the microbial ecology of the kombucha cultures, surprisingly, a cellulose-producing bacterial species survived. The results were published in Frontiers in Microbiology.