To enable long-distance space travel, the development of a highly efficient and robust system to recover nutrients from waste streams is imperative. The inability of the current physicochemical-based environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) on the ISS to produce food in situ and to recover water and oxygen at high enough efficiencies results in the need for frequent resupply missions from Earth. Therefore, alternative strategies like biologically-based technologies called bioregenerative life support systems (BLSSs) are in development. These systems aim to combine biological and physicochemical processes, which enable in situ water, oxygen, and food production (through the highly efficient recovery of minerals from waste streams). Hence, minimalizing the need for external consumables. One of the BLSS initiatives is the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA). It has been designed as a five-compartment bioengineered system able to produce fresh food and oxygen and to recycle water. As such, it could sustain the needs of a human crew for long-term space exploration missions. A prerequisite for the self-sufficient nature of MELiSSA is the highly efficient recovery of valuable minerals from waste streams. The produced nutrients can be used as a fertilizer for food production. In this review, we discuss the need to shift from the ECLSS to a BLSS, provide a summary of past and current BLSS programs and their unique approaches to nitrogen recovery and processing of urine waste streams. In addition, compartment III of the MELiSSA loop, which is responsible for nitrogen recovery, is reviewed in-depth. Finally, past, current, and future related ground and space demonstration and the space-related challenges for this technology are considered.

The photosynthetic alphaproteobacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum S1H is part of the Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA) project that is aiming to develop a closed life support system for oxygen, water and food production to support human life in space in forthcoming long-term space exploration missions. In the present study, R. rubrum S1H was cultured in a rotating wall vessel (RWV), simulating partial microgravity conditions on Earth. The bacterium showed a significant response to cultivation in simulated microgravity at the transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolic levels. In simulated microgravity conditions three N-acyl-l-homoserine lactones (C10-HSL, C12-HSL and 3-OH-C14-HSL) were detected in concentrations that were twice those detected under normal gravity, while no differences in cell density was detected. In addition, R. rubrum cultivated in modelled microgravity showed higher pigmentation than the normal gravity control, without change in culture oxygenation. When compared to randomized microgravity cultivation using a random positioning machine, significant overlap for the top differentially expressed genes and proteins was observed. Cultivation in this new artificial environment of simulated microgravity showed new properties of this well-known bacterium, including its first, to our knowledge, complete quorum-sensing-related N-acylhomoserine lactone profile.

Pelvic radiotherapy has been frequently reported to cause acute and late onset gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Although the underlying mechanisms of pelvic radiation-induced GI toxicity are poorly understood, they are known to involve a complex interplay between all cell types comprising the intestinal wall. Furthermore, increasing evidence states that the human gut microbiome plays a role in the development of radiation-induced health damaging effects. Gut microbial dysbiosis leads to diarrhea and fatigue in half of the patients. As a result, reinforcement of the microbiome has become a hot topic in various medical disciplines. To counteract GI radiotoxicities, apart from traditional pharmacological compounds, adjuvant therapies are being developed including food supplements like vitamins, prebiotics, and probiotics. Despite the easy, cheap, safe, and feasible approach to protect patients against acute radiation-induced toxicity, clinical trials have yielded contradictory results. In this review, a detailed overview is given of the various clinical, intestinal manifestations after pelvic irradiation as well as the role of the gut microbiome herein. Furthermore, whilst discussing possible strategies to prevent these symptoms, food supplements are presented as auspicious, prophylactic, and therapeutic options to mitigate acute pelvic radiation-induced GI injury by exploring their molecular mechanisms of action.

Pelvic radiotherapy is known to evoke intestinal mucositis and dysbiosis. Currently, there are no effective therapies available to mitigate these injuries, which is partly due to a lack of insight into the events causing mucositis and dysbiosis. Here, the complex interplay between the murine host and its microbiome following pelvic irradiation was mapped by characterizing intestinal mucositis along with extensive 16S microbial profiling. We demonstrated important morphological and inflammatory implications within one day after exposure, thereby impairing intestinal functionality and inducing translocation of intraluminal bacteria into mesenteric lymph nodes as innovatively quantified by flow cytometry. Concurrent 16S microbial profiling revealed a delayed impact of pelvic irradiation on beta diversity. Analysis of composition of microbiomes identified biomarkers for pelvic irradiation. Among them, members of the families Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae and Porphyromonadaceae were differentially affected. Altogether, our unprecedented findings showed how pelvic irradiation evoked structural and functional changes in the intestine, which secondarily resulted in a microbiome shift. Therefore, the presented in vivo irradiation-gut-microbiome platform allows further research into the pathobiology of pelvic irradiation-induced intestinal mucositis and resultant dysbiosis, as well as the exploration of mitigating treatments including drugs and food supplements.

Regenerative life support systems for space crews recycle waste into water, food, and oxygen using different organisms. The European Space Agency’s MELiSSA program uses the cyanobacterium Limnospira indica PCC8005 for air revitalization and food production. Before space use, components’ compatibility with reduced gravity was tested. This study introduced a ground analog for microgravity experiments with oxygenic cyanobacteria under continuous illumination, using a random positioning machine (RPM) setup. L. indica PCC8005 grew slower under low-shear simulated microgravity, with proteome analysis revealing downregulation of ribosomal proteins, glutamine synthase, and nitrate uptake transporters, and upregulation of gas vesicle, photosystem I and II, and carboxysome proteins. Results suggested inhibition due to high oxygen partial pressure, causing carbon limitation when cultivated in low-shear simulated microgravity. A thicker stagnant fluid boundary layer reducing oxygen release in simulated microgravity was observed. These findings validate this RPM setup for testing the effects of non-terrestrial gravity on photosynthetic microorganisms.

Spirulina is the commercial name for edible cyanobacteria of the genus Limnospira. The taxonomy of this genus is confusing with four species distributed in two lineages. Furthermore, the species Limnospira fusiformis has been cited as toxic by potentially producing microcystins. Taxonomic ambiguity combined with suspected health concerns constitute a major issue for spirulina producers. In a collection of six cultivars and one ecotype, we identified strains of the two lineages through metagenetic and morphological analyses. We demonstrated that the genus Limnospira only comprises two distinct species according to genomic comparisons of three genomes obtained in this study and 19 reference genomes. We showed that the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene is sufficient to identify the genus Limnospira and to distinguish the two species. Toxinogenesis investigations on eleven genomes from each Limnospira species revealed no genes involved in cyanotoxin synthesis, reflecting the inability of this genus to produce microcystins.