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''Bacillus safensis'' is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, and rod bacterium, originally isolated from a spacecraft in Florida and California. ''Bacillus safensis'' could have possibly been transported to the planet Mars on spacecraft Opportunity and Spirit in 2004.〔 There are several known strains of this bacterium, all of which belong to the Firmicutes phylum of Bacteria.〔 This bacterium also belongs to the large, pervasive genus ''Bacillus''. ''Bacillus safensis'' is an aerobic chemoheterotroph and is highly resistant to salt,〔 UV radiation, and gamma radiation.〔 Because of these features, ''Bacillus safensis'' is a powerful plant hormone producer. The bacteria is also a plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, which enhances plant growth after root colonization.〔 == Discovery & importance == Thirteen strains of the novel bacterium, ''Bacillus safensis'', were first isolated from spacecraft surfaces and assembly-facility surfaces at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as well as the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The bacteria get its name from the Spacecraft Assembly Facility (SAF).〔 Researchers used customary swabbing techniques to detect and collect the bacteria from cleanrooms where the spacecraft were put together in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.〔 The bacterium was accidentally brought to Mars during space travel missions due to contamination of clean rooms. Contamination of clean rooms during space travel is an area of concern as it can threaten microbial experimentation and give false positives of other microbial life forms on other planets. V.V. Kothari and his colleagues from Saurashtra University in Gujarat, India first isolated another strain, ''Bacillus safensis'' VK.〔 Strain VK was collected from ''Cuminum cyminum'', a cumin plant in the desert area of Gujarat, India.〔 Specifically, the bacteria were collected from the rhizosphere of the cumin plant. Ram S. Singh and colleagues discovered one of the strains, AS-08 in soil samples of root tubers of asparagus plants in a botanical garden at Punjabi University in India.〔 ''Bacillus safensis'' AS-08 was found to have inulase activity, which is used for the production of fructooligosaccharides and high-fructose corn syrup.〔 Fructooligosaccharides are used as artificial sweeteners and can be found in many commercial food products. Corn syrup is also found in many processed foods. Davender Kumar and colleagues from Kurukshetra University in India isolated strain DVL-43 from soil samples.〔 This strain was found to possess lipase, which is an important enzyme for fat digestion. Lipases are a class of chemicals that are abundant in nature amongst plants, animals and microorganisms that are widely used in industry for production of food, paper products, detergents and biodiesel fuel. P Ravikumar Government Arts College (A) (Bharathiar University) in India isolated strain PR 2 from explosive laden soil samples. 〔This strain was identified by its 16S rDNA sequence by sanger dideoxy sequenceing method and deposited in the GenBank Maryland USA with accession number KP 261381 with 885bp linear DNA with base count 175 a 295 c 199 g 216 t〔>〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bacillus safensis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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