Bacteria With ‘Unique Abilities’ Mutated On Space Station Into Something Humanity’s Never Seen

Scientists working on China’s Tiangong Space Station have discovered a strain of bacteria with some wild abilities and it’s something researchers have never encountered before on Earth.

Tiangong, China’s answer to the International Space Station, has been up and running since its launch in September 2021. It's smaller than the ISS, roughly a third of its size, but it’s been permanently crewed since then and steadily pushing boundaries.

Fast forward four years, and researchers have now reported the discovery of a brand new bacterial strain called Niallia tiangongensis living on board the station.

The find was detailed in a paper published by the Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.

According to the researchers, this bacterium can do something pretty impressive — it breaks down gelatin, which means it might be able to use gelatin as food when nutrients are scarce.

The paper, titled 'Niallia tiangongensis sp. nov., isolated from the China Space Station', says the bug was found hanging out near the cockpit controls — which is definitely not somewhere you’d expect to see it.

The Chinese Tiangong Space Station was launched in April 2021 Shujianyang/Wikimedia Commons

While it’s a brand-new species, Niallia tiangongensis is closely related to a well-known Earth-based bacterium called Niallia circulans.

This genus is made up of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria that form spores. That spore-forming ability helps them survive in really tough environments.

On Earth, Niallia circulans tends to show up in soil, sewage systems, and even food, thanks to its hardy, thick-walled structure and lack of an outer membrane.

What’s worrying is that Niallia circulans is known to be capable of causing some pretty nasty infections. We’re talking things like abscesses and blood infections (septicemia).

But the version discovered in space Niallia tiangongensis has some intriguing mutations that scientists say might help us better understand how life could adapt beyond Earth.

The discovery came after microbiologists working with the China Space Station Habitation Area Microbiome Program collected swabs from around the station in May 2023.

Those swabs were kept frozen until they could be safely sent back down to Earth for deeper analysis, according to a report from the South China Morning Post.

"This discovery highlights the complex and resilient nature of microbial life." one of the researchers explained. "Even in highly controlled environments like Tiangong, life finds ways to adapt and persist."

Experts claim further research is vital to protect astronauts health Astronaut Center of China

At the moment, it’s still unclear if Niallia tiangongensis actually mutated onboard the space station, or if it’s an unknown species that somehow hitched a ride up from Earth.

Either way, more testing is needed to figure out if it poses any threat to the astronauts currently living and working on Tiangong.

Experts from the Shenzhou Space Biotechnology Group have stressed that learning more about this bacterium is critical for keeping future space travelers healthy and safe.

This isn’t the first time a weird bacterial mutation has shown up in orbit. Just last year, researchers reported that a bacterium on the ISS had undergone some pretty strange changes.

A March 2024 study revealed that a specific strain of Enterobacter bugandensis — first spotted aboard the ISS back in 2018 had morphed into something noticeably different from its relatives down here on Earth.

According to the study, "Enterobacter species act as opportunistic human pathogens, causing nosocomial infections with bacteremia, lower respiratory tract, osteomyelitis, sepsis, and urinary tract infection."

As for what might be behind this change, the study offered this explanation: "A hypothesis central to our study was that the singular nature of the stresses of the space environment, distinct from any on Earth, could be driving these genomic adaptations."

Researchers say this kind of study could open a valuable window into how microbial ecosystems evolve in space, especially since these microbes could directly impact astronaut health.