Tiago P. Ramalho, Antje Siol, Sven Kerzenmacher, Cyprien Verseux, Guillaume Pillot
Bioresource Technology 427 (2025): 132383
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132383
Background
A sustained presence on Mars requires the production of food on site, but farming is limited by the local availability of suitable nutrients. Cyanobacteria can feed on Martian resources, and we hypothesized that the nutrients they mobilize could be extracted through anaerobic digestion and used as crop fertilizer.
Methods
We therefore tested the abilities of three microbial communities to digest the biomass of Anabaena sp. in minimal medium, 200 g L-1 Mars regolith simulant (MGS-1), and water.
Results
All communities produced ammonium and removed organic carbon in all media, especially in minimal medium and 200 g L-1 MGS-1. However, MGS-1 also adsorbed organics and reduced the phosphate and ammonium recovery efficiency. A taxonomic analysis revealed a syntrophic fermentative community and hydrogenotrophic methanogens in minimal medium, but methanogens were outcompeted in MGS-1 by sulfate-reducing bacteria.
Impact
Overall, this study suggests the viability of a bioprocess which could support crop production from Martian resources.
? 2025, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
