Scientists at the University of Nottingham, in the United Kingdom, believe that the wormCaenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), which bears certain biological similarities with human beings,could be the first to travel to other planets like Marsto help us understand how interplanetary travel would affect us. His research is published in the journalInterface.
After sending, in December 2006, some specimens of the species on board the ferryDiscovery bound for the International Space Station (ISS), the researchers were able to verify that theC. elegansit developed from an egg to an adult individual and that, in addition, was capable of reproducing living in space, in exactly the same way that it does on Earth. Specifically, twelve generations of worms were born during the first three months of their journey from Earth to the ISS. “Many scientists agree thatthese worms could colonize other planets“says Nataniel Szewczyk, co-author of the work.” And, surprisingly enough, many of the biological changes that humans experience in space flight occur in a similar way in worms, “he adds. According to the researcher, the key to the experiment is they have been able to “show that worms can grow and reproduce in space long enough to reach another planet, but also that their health can be controlled remotely.”
C. elegansit was the first multi-celled organism whose entire genome was known, and today we know that many of its 20,000 genes perform the same functions as their human counterparts. “Worms allow us to detect changes in growth, development, reproduction and behavior in response to environmental conditions such as toxins or in response to deep space missions,” Szewczyk said.
