We are one: Blob samples are made from the same cellular organism that never divides.The International Space Station astronauts will be welcoming "The Blob", an unusual guest that launches into orbit Tuesday.The Blob, an alien living on its own planet is neither a fish nor a fowl. It is not a plant, animal, or fungus.Physarum Polycephaluma type slime moldhas always fascinated scientists. It will now be part in a unique experiment that astronauts, hundreds of kilometers above Earth, and hundreds of thousands of French school children will simultaneously carry out.Slime mold was first discovered on Earth 500 million years ago. It defies all conventional biology as it is composed of one cell with multiple nuclei.Most organisms reproduce and grow through division and multiplication of cells. However, Physarum Polycephalum doesn't.Pierre Ferrand, a professor of Earth sciences, and a seconded scientist at the French space agency CNES is one of the people behind this project.Another strange fact: While most organisms can only afford two types of sex, the Blob has more than 700. He says that it is an organism "with drawers", which means that it tells us that there are many originalities to life."Pierre Ferrand, a French space agency, explained that the Blob is "a single cell that can grow without ever divising."You are what your cell can doThe slime mold is a yellowish, spongy, lumpy substance that lacks legs, brain, or mouth.Despite these obvious disadvantages, mold can still eat, grow, move, although very slowly, and has incredible learning abilities.Blob's DNA is free to move around in its cells, rather than being enclosed within a nucleus. It can "slough off” parts of itself as it pleases.You can also make it go into a dormant mode by drying the body called "sclerotia".It is several pieces that make up the sclerotia, which will embark on an odyssey aboard an ISS refueling cargoer.Four sclerotiaeach approximately the same size as the average pinky fingernail will be awakened from their sleep in their Petri-dish bed when they are rehydrated in September.Two protocols will be used to treat the two samples, both of which were taken from the same "parent cell" (labeled by scientists LU352): one will restrict certain sub-Blobs from food and the other will allow them to consume porridge oats.Audrey Dussutour, Blob specialist, says that he is curious to see if the pillars form.It is intended to study the effects of weightlessness upon this organism. However, it will also serve as an educational experience by being a huge school experiment that reaches out into space. The mission will not include any scientific papers."No one knows its behavior in microgravity. What direction will it go in?" Is it going to go up, or sideways? Ferrand asks.Audrey Dussutour (Blob specialist), director of the Centre for Research on Animal Cognition, Toulouse: "I'll be interested to see if they develop by forming pillars."During this time, approximately 4,500 French schools and colleges will receive thousands of samples from the same LU352 strain.Christine Correcher, the educational director of the space agency's educational programs, says that "more than 350,000 students will touch the Blob".Teachers will be provided with kits containing three to five sclerotia at the end of this month.The Blob's sections will be revived in space and their companions will be rehydrated on Earth.The observations will begin to compare how samples adapt in space with Earth. This may shed light on fundamental questions about the building blocks of life.2021 AFP
