Indian Researchers Find Yeast Survives Mars-Like Stress, May Unlock Tool To Assess Astronaut Health In Space
It's the tiny organism that makes your bread rise and your beer bubble, but could Saccharomyces cerevisiae also hold the key to life beyond Earth?
By Anubha Jain
Published : November 12, 2025 at 2:02 PM IST
|Updated : November 12, 2025 at 3:58 PM IST
Bengaluru: In a groundbreaking study, researchers from the Department of Biochemistry at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, have discovered that yeast cells can survive conditions mimicking those on Mars—and that’s no small feat.
To test how tough the yeast really is, the researchers hit the cells with powerful shock waves, as fast as five times the speed of sound, similar to what happens when a meteorite crashes on Mars. They also mixed the yeast with sodium perchlorate, a poisonous chemical found in Martian soil. Using a special machine called the High-Intensity Shock Tube for Astrochemistry (HISTA), the team recreated these harsh Martian conditions in the lab. Afterwards, they carefully collected the yeast cells to see how well they survived. The results were surprising: yeast survived. Although their growth slowed down, the cells endured both the shock waves and the chemical assault—even when the two stresses were combined.
Lead author of the study, Riya Dhage, said, “This work brings together shock wave physics, chemical biology, and molecular cell biology to explore how life might cope with Mars-like conditions.”
Inspiration behind testing yeast under Mars-like conditions
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Associate Professor at IISc and corresponding author of the study, Purusharth I Rajyaguru, discussed the inspiration behind testing yeast under Mars-like conditions. Rajyaguru explained that he has worked with yeast since 2007, valuing it as a model organism because many biological mechanisms in yeast are conserved in humans.
“Yeast is a powerful, versatile system that helps us understand fundamental human biology,” he said. “When I moved to the Department of Biochemistry at IISc in 2013, I decided to continue working with yeast. It remains an integral part of our research at IISc, and even before our Mars-related work, our earlier projects also involved yeast.”
He added that the idea for the Mars-focused study arose unexpectedly while waiting for research funding. “I came across an ISRO call for space and astrobiology proposals and realised that RNA-protein complexes called RNP condensates had not yet been explored in this context,” he recalled.
He further added that yeast, being both a simple and adaptable system, was a great option to understand the impact of Mars-like stress conditions on RNP condensates. The team presented the idea to ISRO, which funded the project. Rajyaguru highlighted the collaborative effort, acknowledging co-author Bhalamurugan Sivaraman, Arijit Roy (PRL Ahmedabad), and first author Riya Dhage (IISc), who carried out much of the experimental work.
Challenges of exposing live yeast cells to extreme shock waves
When asked about the challenges of exposing live yeast cells to extreme shock waves, Riya Dhage said that setting up the HISTA tube to expose live yeast cells to shock waves was the biggest hurdle, which was not attempted earlier. Professor Rajyaguru explained that no prior studies had attempted this.
“We aimed to find shock wave conditions strong enough to trigger physiological changes but gentle enough to keep the yeast alive,” he said. He further said that Sivaraman’s team in Ahmedabad provided the shock wave expertise, while Riya Dhage led extensive trial-and-error experiments to optimise conditions for exposure of yeast to shock waves and perchlorate stress.
Typically, yeast is handled in sterile laboratory environments. Maintaining sterility during exposure was another major hurdle. Ultimately, Riya identified the precise conditions to maintain aseptic conditions for exposing the yeast cells to stress conditions.
Yeast’s unexpected resilience
Discussing the yeast’s unexpected resilience under harsh, Mars-like conditions, Professor Rajyaguru said, “We didn’t expect the yeast cells to survive the intensity of the shock waves—but they did.”
He said that in the study, the team observed that yeast cells were able to withstand shock waves of up to 5.6 Mach—a unit used to measure shockwave intensity. This was the maximum level that could be generated under laboratory conditions at PRL. Beyond this threshold, further testing was not possible. Even at this high intensity, a certain proportion of cells managed to survive, although not all.
After a brief lag phase, the surviving yeast cells recovered and functioned as well as they did before exposure. “The resilience of our humble baker’s yeast truly surprised us,” Professor Rajyaguru remarked. “It gives us hope that if yeast survived these two tested stressors, then it might be able to withstand several other stressors observed on Mars."
The role of stress granules and P-bodies in helping yeast survive
The secret to yeast survival seems to lie in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates, tiny structures that act like emergency shelters inside the cell. When yeast cells are under stress, they form tiny protective bubbles called stress granules and P-bodies. These help the cells protect and manage their mRNA to decide what proteins to make and when.
Discussing the role of stress granules and P-bodies in helping yeast survive, the professor said this was the most interesting finding of the study. “Our work can be extended beyond yeast to other organisms, giving us insights into how different life forms respond to similar stress,” he explained.
Stress granules and P-bodies are RNA–protein complexes found in almost all model organisms, including yeast and humans. These ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates, also known as RNA granules, determine the fate of mRNA—whether it will be translated or not—and are highly responsive to stress conditions. The team observed that yeast cells assembled RNP condensates in response to shock waves and perchlorate stress.
Notably, yeast cells unable to produce these condensates or granules were less capable of surviving the stress compared to those that did. This suggests that such structures may serve as a cellular mechanism for enduring harsh, space-like environments.
“This provides us with a potential tool to assess astronaut health,” the professor added. “By measuring the formation of these condensates in astronauts’ blood cells, we could predict how their bodies might respond to stress during space missions or while living aboard the space station.”
Paving the way for yeast experiments in future space missions
Responding to the possibility of sending yeast or similar microbes on future space missions to test their survival in real conditions, Professor Rajyaguru explained that yeast has already been sent to space in the past—for instance, by NASA. However, he hopes that their work encourages more researchers to consider including yeast in upcoming missions.
"While it is a simple organism, this study serves as a proof of principle that RNP condensates can be valuable tools for understanding survival mechanisms—not just in yeast, but across different model organisms—in space exploration," the professor said. “We have all the necessary genetic tools in our lab. These are yeast strains with mutations in specific factors that are important for the formation and function of RNP condensates in various forms. These could be used to provide valuable insights into the role of RNP condensates under various stressors."
He added, “What we have done so far has been entirely within controlled laboratory conditions. It’s a very good start, but it’s hard to predict what will happen next.”
The next phase of the study, he explained, would involve combining multiple Mars-like conditions—such as temperature, radiation, gravity, etc—with the conditions we have already tested, and gradually introducing more complex environments to see whether yeast can still survive under those combined stresses.
To summarise, this unique study sheds light on how life might endure beyond Earth. The findings could guide future space experiments and advance India’s growing astrobiology research. In essence, this humble kitchen organism may help unlock the secrets of potential life on other worlds.
