Abstract
During the last 20 years, from laboratory studies and inflight investigations on the response of microorganisms to space environment, it has been found, that desiccated systems can survive short-time exposure to free space, if shielded against solar UV radiation. Simultaneous treatment with solar UV radiation and space vacuum exerted a synergistic interaction in cell killing. From action spectroscopy for lethality and formation of photoproducts in the DNA the hypothesis has been supported that “vacuum-specific” less reparable photoproducts are causally involved in this synergistic response. These data shed some light on the likelihood of an interplanetary tranfer of life.
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© 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Horneck, G. (1988). Survival Strategies for Life in High UV, Very Low Density Environment. In: Marx, G. (eds) Bioastronomy — The Next Steps. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 144. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2959-3_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2959-3_27
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7830-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2959-3
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