Yersinia intermedia MASE-LG-1, a facultative anaerobic microbe from a Mars analogue environment survives diverse individual and combined simulated Martian stresses.

Our understanding of the habitability of Mars is hampered by a lack of knowledge of the stress respons-es of anaerobic organisms. In the project MASE (Mars Analogues for Space Exploration) representative (fac-ultative) anaerobic microorganisms are isolated from Mars analogue environments on Earth and exposed to stresses typical for the Martian environment. The aim is to gain fundamental insights into the limits of anaer-obic microbial life on Earth and to use these data to assess the habitability of Mars.