Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, January 11, according to Rocket Pai, Torch 1 satellite is the first space life science test satellite in China, designed and developed by Rocket Pai (Taicang) Aerospace Science and Technology Co., Ltd., on December 9, 2022, Jielong 3 rocket successfully launched and entered the sun synchronous orbit, the initial average orbital altitude 550km, operating cycle 95min. Up to now, the satellite has been operating for more than a month, it is in good condition in orbit, and a large number of effective picture data have been sent back, and the space life science experiment has been successfully completed.

Space life science is one of the proven development fields of space science in the aerospace field. Space has the characteristics of microgravity, strong radiation and weak magnetic field. In this environment, the spatial variation of microorganisms is several orders of magnitude higher than the existing ground methods, so space mutagenesis can be carried out to screen high-quality pharmaceutical strains.

The main purpose of this experiment is to detect the effect of space environment (including microgravity, cosmic radiation and other factors) on the growth of aerobes and anaerobes in intestinal tract. The biological loading device carried by satellite is a kind of loading device specially developed for the culture of probiotics in the food industry. It is essentially a kind of closed container controlled by constant temperature, with chromogenic bacteria culture medium cavity and grid plate designed, and aerobic and anaerobes inoculated in different grid positions. At suitable temperature (34-37 ℃), aerobic bacteria first begin to grow and consume oxygen. After oxygen consumption, anaerobes begin to grow under anaerobic conditions, and the growing bacteria show yellow-green spots, which can be clearly observed and photographed against the background lamp. Comparing the satellite load with the load of synchronous culture on the ground, it is found that the plaque cultured in space environment is larger and the growth effect is better.

The significance of this scientific exploration is to clarify the growth characteristics of this kind of probiotics in the space environment, and the research results will be used to provide scientific basis for the development of probiotic products and functional foods to improve the intestinal health of astronauts. In addition, probiotic subspecies with stronger industrialization performance can be screened out in the future.

The image of Escherichia coli growing on E. coli chromogenic medium for 3 days (4 on the left for ground growth and 4 on the right for space growth)

The growth images of Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus plantarum in space (taken on December 9, 2022, December 19, 2022, January 4, 2023, January 5, 2023) CTOnews.com learned that the strains used in this experiment were suitable Escherichia coli (aerobic bacteria) and Lactobacillus plantarum (anaerobic bacteria) screened through a large number of screening tests on the ground. Escherichia coli is the most important and abundant bacteria in the intestinal tract of human and many animals. it is parasitic in the human large intestine and small intestine with simple structure, rapid reproduction and easy culture. Under normal circumstances, Escherichia coli will not bring any harm to our health, but also can compete against the attack of pathogenic bacteria, but also help to synthesize vitamin K2, which is a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with the human body. Lactobacillus plantarum is a kind of lactic acid bacteria, which has many health functions, such as immune regulation, inhibition of bacteria, reduction of serum cholesterol and prevention of cardiovascular disease, maintenance of intestinal flora balance, promotion of nutrient absorption, inhibition of tumor cell formation and so on.

The selection of these two probiotics as biological loads for culture in space environment is of great significance for the breeding of space mutagenic strains, improving human nutritional status, promoting intestinal absorption and so on.

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