Presenters: Steven Bellis ; Aysha Aslam ; Joseph Furniss ; Alyssa Hurst
Authors: Steven Bellis, Aysha Aslam, Joseph Furniss, Alyssa Hurst, Riley Rowberry
Faculty Advisor: Trever Thurgood
Institution: Utah Valley University
Whether one is searching for signs of past life, current life, or potential for life in the depths of Space, thesource of survivalforlife as we know itbegins inan organism’sDNA.By studying a resilient organism foundin harsh environmentson Earth, we can gain insight intosurvival mechanismsneeded to livein similarly harsh conditions onMars, a planet of interest for extraterrestrialhabitation.Members of the phylumTardigradahave been a favorable subject for studying survival in spacebecause theycanenter an anhydrobiotic state. This dormant state allows the tardigrade to survive conditions of extreme temperatures, high pressures, radiation, and other stressors (Yoshida, 2017).In existing literature, there has yet to be a comparative study looking at gene expression ofthe tardigradeHypsibiusexemplarisbetween multiple stress conditions. We designed 5 experimental conditions that mimic the average climate and composition of Mars: extreme cold (-80 degrees Celsius), exposure toUV light,high salinity water (5.133M), a carbon dioxide-rich simulated atmosphere, and two controls. All samples were prepared with a Mars-like soil simulant. After 60 minutes of exposure to the designated condition, samples were immediately frozen using liquid nitrogen. We then extracted RNA from the samples, reverse transcribed them to create cDNA, and used a cDNA sequencing kit andMinIONsequencerto identify what genes are being expressed in each condition. We performed a comparative analysis of our data between all samples.Our results can serve as a foundation for further studies in gene expression, particularly in relation to extraterrestrial endeavors. We hope for our data to be used in a progressive field of study for exploring the options of bringing life to Mars and other exoplanets, as well as a more informative direction in searching for signs of past life in space.