A Weakened Immune Response to Synthetic Exo-Peptides Predicts a Potential Biosecurity Risk in the Retrieval of Exo-Microorganisms

Katja Schaefer (Corresponding Author), Ivy M. Dambuza, Sergio Dall'angelo, Laurent Trembleau, Matteo Zanda, Gordon D Brown, Mihai G. Netea, Neil A R Gow

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Abstract

The discovery of liquid water at several locations in the solar system raises the possibility that microbial life may have evolved outside Earth and as such could be accidently introduced into the Earth’s ecosystem. Unusual sugars or amino acids, like non-proteinogenic isovaline and α-aminoisobutyric acid that are vanishingly rare or absent from life forms on Earth, have been found in high abundance on non-terrestrial carbonaceous meteorites. It is therefore conceivable that exo-microorganisms might contain proteins that include these rare amino acids. We therefore asked whether the mammalian immune system would be able to recognize and induce appropriate immune responses to putative proteinaceous antigens that include these rare amino acids. To address this, we synthesised peptide antigens based on a backbone of ovalbumin and introduced isovaline and α-aminoisobutyric acid residues and demonstrated that these peptides can promote naïve OT-I cell activation and proliferation, but did so less efficiently than the canonical peptides. This is relevant to the biosecurity of missions that may retrieve samples from exoplanets and moons that have conditions that may be permissive for life, suggesting that accidental contamination and exposure to exo-microorganisms with such distinct proteomes might pose an immunological challenge.
Original languageEnglish
Article number1066
Number of pages14
JournalMicroorganisms
Volume8
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Jul 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding: This research was funded by a number of sources. N.G. acknowledges the Wellcome support of a Senior Investigator [101873/Z/13/Z], Collaborative [200208/A/15/Z] and Strategic Awards [097377/Z11/Z] and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology [MR/N006364/2]. G.D.B. and I.D. are supported by Wellcome Senior Investigator [102705], and Strategic Awards [097377/Z11/Z] and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology [MR/N006364/1]. M.G.N. is partly supported by an ERC Advanced grant [#833247] and a Spinoza grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. The APC was funded by Wellcome.

Keywords

  • unusual amino acids
  • exobiology
  • infection risk
  • planetary protection
  • space travel
  • Immune response
  • Exobiology
  • Space travel
  • Unusual amino acids
  • Planetary protection
  • Infection risk
  • SUBSETS
  • immune response
  • AMINO-ACIDS
  • MARS
  • GROWTH
  • GENERATION
  • T-LYMPHOCYTES

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