ArticleMicrobiome2022
Microbial Tracking-2, a metagenomics analysis of bacteria and fungi onboard the International Space Station.
Article in Microbiome, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- Spaceborne and spaceborn: Physiological aspects of pregnancy and birth during interplanetary flight.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Longitudinal analysis of stowaway microorganisms aboard modules and cargo spacecraft of the Chinese Space Station.Microbiome · 2026Article
- Low-Intensity, Short-Duration Proton Irradiation Enhances Oxidative Stress Sensitivity ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Integrative artificial intelligence and multi-omics modeling approach for characterizing microbial dynamics and health impacts in space microgravity and radiation conditions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Multiple organ injury in septic rats under weightlessness.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Meta-analysis of extremotolerant microbes to address nutrient deficiencies in bioregenerative life support systems during Deep-space Missions.NPJ science of food · 2025Article
- Review
- Genomic characterization of Microbacterium meiriae sp. nov., a novel bacterium isolated from the International Space Station.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Translational insights into abiotic interactions: From Arabidopsis to crop plants.The Plant cell · 2025Review
- Genomic description ofmSystems · 2025Article
- An early microbial landscape: inspiring endeavor from the China Space Station Habitation Area Microbiome Program (CHAMP).Science China. Life sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- On-orbit microbial succession patterns of the China Space Station during the construction period.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Systematic screening of 42 vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium strains for resistance, biofilm, and desiccation in simulated microgravity.NPJ microgravity · 2024Article
- Article
- Collection of biospecimens from the inspiration4 mission establishes the standards for the space omics and medical atlas (SOMA).Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Microbiome in a ground-based analog cabin of China Space Station during a 50-day human occupation.ISME communications · 2024Article
- Phylogenomics, phenotypic, and functional traits of five novel (Earth-derived) bacterial species isolated from the International Space Station and their prevalence in metagenomes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Astrovirology: how viruses enhance our understanding of life in the Universe.International journal of astrobiology · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe International Space Station (ISS) is a unique and complex built environment with the ISS surface microbiome originating from crew and cargo or from life support recirculation in an almost entirely closed system. The Microbial Tracking 1 (MT-1) project was the first ISS environmental surface study to report on the metagenome profiles without using whole-genome amplification. The study surveyed the microbial communities from eight surfaces over a 14-month period. The Microbial Tracking 2 (MT-2) project aimed to continue the work of MT-1, sampling an additional four flights from the same locations, over another 14 months.
methodsEight surfaces across the ISS were sampled with sterile wipes and processed upon return to Earth. DNA extracted from the processed samples (and controls) were treated with propidium monoazide (PMA) to detect intact/viable cells or left untreated and to detect the total DNA population (free DNA/compromised cells/intact cells/viable cells). DNA extracted from PMA-treated and untreated samples were analyzed using shotgun metagenomics. Samples were cultured for bacteria and fungi to supplement the above results.
resultsStaphylococcus sp. and Malassezia sp. were the most represented bacterial and fungal species, respectively, on the ISS. Overall, the ISS surface microbiome was dominated by organisms associated with the human skin. Multi-dimensional scaling and differential abundance analysis showed significant temporal changes in the microbial population but no spatial differences. The ISS antimicrobial resistance gene profiles were however more stable over time, with no differences over the 5-year span of the MT-1 and MT-2 studies. Twenty-nine antimicrobial resistance genes were detected across all samples, with macrolide/lincosamide/streptogramin resistance being the most widespread. Metagenomic assembled genomes were reconstructed from the dataset, resulting in 82 MAGs. Functional assessment of the collective MAGs showed a propensity for amino acid utilization over carbohydrate metabolism. Co-occurrence analyses showed strong associations between bacterial and fungal genera. Culture analysis showed the microbial load to be on average 3.0 × 10
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.