Some microbes can resist decontamination before space flight, but this may not be because they are armed with additional genes to those of closely related strains.
Instead, new research in the journal BMC Microbiology suggests that commonly shared genes confer resistance because they act differently.
As interplanetary exploration increases, so too does the need to more effectively sterilise spacecraft in order to avoid contaminating other planets with Earth germs.
“The search for life elsewhere is impacted by the possible transport of organisms from Earth to solar system bodies of interest,” says George Fox of the University of Houston, who led the current study.
In fact, current rovers on Mars are most likely carrying Earth bacteria, and the Curiosity rover has had to carefully navigate areas where water might be flowing on Mars in order to avoid contaminating it.
It’s not that grimy tech was casually sent to the red planet, but rather that certain terrestrial microbes are stunningly tenacious.