California: USC ‘s(University of Southern California) researcher said - Fungi will be sent for the first time to the International Space Station for the development of medicine.
On Monday,the researcher from USC has introduced that experiments, to be conducted together by scientists from the university and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will put specimen of Aspergillus nidulans in the high-radiation and micro-gravity conditions in space to develop new medicines for use in space and on the Earth.
USC said, “Certain types of fungi produce very important molecules called secondary metabolites that are not essential for their growth or reproduction but can be used to make beneficial pharmaceuticals. Examples of secondary metabolites include the antibiotic penicillin and the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin,”
Clay Wang(professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences and chemistry at the USC school of pharmacy) said, “The high-radiation, micro-gravity environment in space could prompt Aspergillus nidulans to produce molecules it doesn’t create in Earth’s less stressful conditions
He added, “We’ve done extensive genetic analysis of this fungus and found that it could potentially produce 40 different types of drugs.The organism is known to produce osteoporosis drugs, which is very important from an astronaut’s perspective because we know that in space travel, astronauts experience bone loss.”
As per the Scientist the molecules from Aspergillus nidulans may be useful in anti-cancer and Alzheimer’s disease research.