• Question: Do you think that diseases mutate in the same way (or at all), on different planets or moons such as Mars or the Moon, where there are different atmospheric conditions?

    Asked by pratyushjain to Lyn, Katy, Paul, PB, Ruth on 20 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Paul Waines

      Paul Waines answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      Assuming that the bugs that cause them, then definitely. Mutations are caused by changes to DNA, and these mutations can be caused by the environment that that DNA/ cell/ organism is in. So different atmospheric conditions would undoubtedly cause mutations- whether these mutations would turn out to be good or bad, you’d have to wait and see…

    • Photo: Peter Balfe

      Peter Balfe answered on 20 Jun 2013:

      I think the laws of evolution are universal, though the details would differ. Atmosphere probably has little to do with it, except insofar as it limits growth and reproduction

    • Photo: Katy Brown

      Katy Brown answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      I think that if diseases from Earth were on Mars or the Moon they’d mutate faster because they would be exposed to more mutagens – chemicals or other processes which damage the DNA. Also, the diseases would be evolving for a whole new environment, so any mutations they did get would be more likely to survive.

    • Photo: Ee Lyn Lim

      Ee Lyn Lim answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      This is an intriguing question. You are probably talking about the mutation of bacteria or viruses or parasites (we’ll call them ‘bugs’) that cause disease – but these bugs can’t cause disease unless there’s something for them to infect! Multicellular life can’t survive on Mars or the Moon (or at least we haven’t found them so far) so there can’t be disease on Mars or the Moon, either!

      Also, in order for bugs, as a whole population, to mutate and evolve, they have to reproduce (most often that means each bug splitting to form two smaller bugs). All the bugs we currently know of can’t reproduce without water, and there isn’t any water on the Moon or Mars (so far)! Bacteria can form spores, which are practically indestructible and can survive any conditions, but if it can’t produce baby bacteria, it can’t evolve. Viruses are also extremely sturdy and would be just fine in outer space, but again, they can’t reproduce there. It’s possible that the DNA in these bugs will become damaged in space (UV rays and radiation are much stronger out there) so if they manage to make it back to Earth they could very well have mutated, but once they’re back here, they’ll be following the same rules again.

      One possibility is this – if a man went to the moon and lived there, wearing a space suit, would he catch the same diseases as he would back on Earth, and would those bugs mutate differently? I have no idea how to answer this question! I would think maybe they would be different, because you’d be eating different food, and breathing very enclosed, limited air, and doing different exercises. It’s possible that the bugs would mutate to suit that, but I have no idea how! There is work going on at the International Space Station to research all sorts of health-related questions, so maybe they’ll have the answer one day…

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