The International Space Station (ISS) microorganism interactions have been explored by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the institute announced on Friday.

One important discovery was that a bacteria living on the ISS was advantageous to several other microbes but inhibited the growth of a fungus. The study will aid in developing techniques for cleaning space stations to minimise any potential negative effects that bacteria may have on astronauts' health.

'Crews may experience restricted access to terrestrial medical services while they are in space. In order to comprehend the hazards connected with short- and long-term space flight on astronauts' health, it is crucial to study the bacteria living aboard the space station,' according to a press release from the IIT-Madras.

The earlier observations of the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae predominating on the surfaces of the ISS served as the basis for the current study.

This bacterium has been linked to nosocomial (hospital acquired) infections such as pneumonia. The general goal of the research was to understand how this bacteria affects the growth of other germs nearby and the potential consequences that may result.

The data on the microbiological samples collected across three space trips at seven different sites on the ISS were analysed by the researchers. According to the study, a significant microbe that lives on the ISS, Klebsiella pneumoniae, is helpful to many other microorganisms, particularly those belonging to the Pantoea genus. The growth of the Aspergillus fungus was discovered to be hampered by its presence.

In-lab tests were conducted to confirm this computational finding, and it was discovered that the presence of K. pneumoniae was in fact harmful to the development of the Aspergillus fungus. Dr. Karthik Raman, a key member of the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBCDSAI), IIT Madras, and an associate professor at the Bhupat & Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences, worked with Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran, a research scientist working at JPL. Peer-reviewed research on the topic has been published in the prestigious international journal Microbiome.