This report was designed to compare spaceflight-induced cellular and physiological adaptations of two human yeast commensals, Candida parapsilosis and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa isolated from the Intern..
This report was designed to compare spaceflight-induced cellular and physiological adaptations of two human yeast commensals, Candida parapsilosis and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa isolated from the International Space Station. These two yeast strains are common opportunistic pathogens responsible for a variety of superficial infections as well as systemic and more severe infections in immunocompromised individuals. The risk of opportunistic infections can be assessed by testing antifungal susceptibility as a virulence-related phenotype. In this study, antifungal susceptibility was tested using a broth dilution method which included different concentrations of the common antifungals Fluconazole, Amphotericin B, and Caspofungin in strains from the ISS and compared to earth isolates from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) library. Preliminary results indicate that, in general, both yeast isolates from the ISS demonstrated increased resistance to all antifungals tested when compared to earth isolates. This study provides insight into deciphering the microbial responses to spaceflight conditions and their potential role in causing antimicrobial-resistant infections.
