De Carvalho, Daniel SantanaTrovatti Uetanabaro, Ana PaulaKato, Rodrigo BentesAburjaile, Flavia FigueiraJaiswal, Arun KumarProfeta, RodrigoDe Oliveira Carvalho, Rodrigo DiasTiwar, SandeepCybelle Pinto Gomide, AnneAlmeida Costa, EduardoKukharenko, OlgaOrlovska, IrynaPodolich, OlgaReva, Oleg N.Ramos, Pablo Ivan P.De Carvalho Azevedo, Vasco AristonBrenig, BertramAndrade, Bruno SilvaDe Vera, Jean-Pierre P.Kozyrovska, Natalia O.Barh, DebmalyaGoes-Neto, Aristoteles2022-07-282022-07-282022-03-11Santana de Carvalho, D., Trovatti Uetanabaro, A.P., Kato, R.B., Aburjaile, F.F., Jaiswal, A.K., Profeta, R., De Oliveira, Carvalho, R.D., Tiwar, S., Cybelle Pinto Gomide, A., Almeida Costa, E., Kukharenko, O., Orlovska, I., Podolich, O., Reva, O., Ramos, P.I.P., De Carvalho Azevedo, V.A., Brenig,, B., Andrade, B.S., De Vera, J.-P.P., Kozyrovska, N.O., Barh, D. & Góes-Neto, A. (2022) The Space-Exposed Kombucha Microbial Community Member Komagataeibacter oboediens Showed Only Minor Changes in Its Genome After Reactivation on Earth. Frontiers in Microbiology 13:782175, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.782175.1664-302X (online)10.3389/fmicb.2022.782175https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/86571Komagataeibacter is the dominant taxon and cellulose-producing bacteria in the Kombucha Microbial Community (KMC). This is the first study to isolate the K. oboediens genome from a reactivated space-exposed KMC sample and comprehensively characterize it. The space-exposed genome was compared with the Earth-based reference genome to understand the genome stability of K. oboediens under extraterrestrial conditions during a long time. Our results suggest that the genomes of K. oboediens IMBG180 (ground sample) and K. oboediens IMBG185 (spaceexposed) are remarkably similar in topology, genomic islands, transposases, prion-like proteins, and number of plasmids and CRISPR-Cas cassettes. Nonetheless, there was a difference in the length of plasmids and the location of cas genes. A small difference was observed in the number of protein coding genes. Despite these differences, they do not affect any genetic metabolic profile of the cellulose synthesis, nitrogen-fixation, hopanoid lipids biosynthesis, and stress-related pathways. Minor changes are only observed in central carbohydrate and energy metabolism pathways gene numbers or sequence completeness. Altogether, these findings suggest that K. oboediens maintains its genome stability and functionality in KMC exposed to the space environment most probably due to the protective role of the KMC biofilm. Furthermore, due to its unaffected metabolic pathways, this bacterial species may also retain some promising potential for space applications.en© 2022 Santana de Carvalho, Trovatti Uetanabaro, Kato, Aburjaile, Jaiswal, Profeta, De Oliveira Carvalho, Tiwar, Cybelle Pinto Gomide, Almeida Costa, Kukharenko, Orlovska, Podolich, Reva, Ramos, De Carvalho Azevedo, Brenig, Andrade, de Vera, Kozyrovska, Barh and Góes-Neto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).Comparative genomicsAcetobacteraceaeMetabolic reconstructionSingle nucleotide variationNitrogen fixationHopanoidsCellulose biosynthesisKombucha microbial community (KMC)Article