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Recovery of Bacillus Spore Contaminants from Rough Surfaces: a Challenge to Space Mission Cleanliness Control
- Source :
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 77:1628-1637
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- American Society for Microbiology, 2011.
-
Abstract
- Microbial contaminants on spacecraft can threaten the scientific integrity of space missions due to probable interference with life detection experiments. Therefore, space agencies measure the cultivable spore load (“bioburden”) of a spacecraft. A recent study has reported an insufficient recovery of Bacillus atrophaeus spores from Vectran fabric, a typical spacecraft airbag material (A. Probst, R. Facius, R. Wirth, and C. Moissl-Eichinger, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 76:5148-5158, 2010). Here, 10 different sampling methods were compared for B. atrophaeus spore recovery from this rough textile, revealing significantly different efficiencies (0.5 to 15.4%). The most efficient method, based on the wipe-rinse technique (foam-spatula protocol; 13.2% efficiency), was then compared to the current European Space Agency (ESA) standard wipe assay in sampling four different kinds of spacecraft-related surfaces. Results indicate that the novel protocol out-performed the standard method with an average efficiency of 41.1% compared to 13.9% for the standard method. Additional experiments were performed by sampling Vectran fabric seeded with seven different spore concentrations and five different Bacillus species ( B. atrophaeus , B. anthracis Sterne, B. megaterium , B. thuringiensis , and B. safensis ). Among these, B. atrophaeus spores were recovered with the highest (13.2%) efficiency and B. anthracis Sterne spores were recovered with the lowest (0.3%) efficiency. Different inoculation methods of seeding spores on test surfaces (spotting and aerosolization) resulted in different spore recovery efficiencies. The results of this study provide a step forward in understanding the spore distribution on and recovery from rough surfaces. The results presented will contribute relevant knowledge to the fields of astrobiology and B. anthracis research.
- Subjects :
- B. anthracis
European Space Agency (ESA) standard wipe assay
Bacillus
Sensitivity and Specificity
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Specimen Handling
Microbiology
Bioburden
Environmental Microbiology
Methods
Spacecraft
Life detection
Aerosolization
Spores, Bacterial
Bacteriological Techniques
Ecology
biology
microbial contaminants on spacecraft
fungi
Space Flight
Contamination
Astrobiology
biology.organism_classification
Pulp and paper industry
Inoculation methods
Spore
Bacillus atrophaeus
cultivable spore load (“bioburden”) of a spacecraft
Food Science
Biotechnology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10985336 and 00992240
- Volume :
- 77
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....1f77bd8a59b6228c70dc354aeb384b2c