Screening and genetic manipulation of green organisms for establishment of biological life support systems in space

Figures & data

Figure 1. Salt Lake Urmia, one of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Iran contains more than 300 g per liter salt and can thus be considered a region with astrobiological significance. The lake is home to several ancient photosynthetic organisms (Photo taken by authors in August 2012; Geographical position: 37.769642, 45.318928).

Table 1. Comparison of C3, C4, and CAM plants in photosynthetic efficiency and resistance profile

Green organism	Resistance to low temperatures	Resistance to high temperatures	Resistance to dryness	Photosynthetic efficiency	CO2 removal/O2 production
C3 plants	Resistant	Sensitive	Sensitive	Medium	Medium
C4 plants	Sensitive	Resistant	Medium resistant	High	High
CAM plants	Medium resistant	Resistant	Resistant	Low	Low
Microalgae	Resistant	Resistant	Medium resistant	High	High

Figure 2. The microalgae Dunaliella urmiana harboring several photosynthetic pigments has adapted to the stressful life in various habitats including Salt Lake Urmia (Isolated and characterized by authors; × 100 magnification under Olympus Invert Microscope).

Figure 3. Rapid stepwise artificial Darwinian selection of super microorganisms for exploitation in BLSS and in terraforming of Mars