ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Unravelling the mechanisms of long-term desiccation resistance in microorganisms

Abstract: Some microorganisms can go into a state of long-term dormancy in desiccated conditions. One mechanism is to form resting states or spores. However, these are highly complex structures formed by a small minority of microorganisms. Of much greater interest is microorganisms that can desiccate in a vegetative state without specialised spore structures. Over the last two years, we have isolated novel strains of non-spore-forming microorganisms that have survived desiccation for over a decade. These organisms potentially offer profoundly interesting insights into the extreme desiccation survival of microorganisms over decade timescales. We might learn about the molecules we could use to preserve other microorganisms over similar time periods and how microorganisms can survive in the dry state in natural (e.g. desert) and artificial (e.g. hospitals) environments over many years. These organisms may contain within them genetic information on how to modify other organisms to survive long-term desiccation. These data have implications for developing commercial methods to preserve microorganisms and other biological materials in medical science, agriculture, and food storage. We want to discover both the physical and biochemical mechanisms that are used by microorganisms to survive long term desiccation. In this proposal, we propose to use neutron scattering (QENS) to understand how water is distributed in one of our extreme desiccation resistant isolates.

Principal Investigator: Professor Charles Cockell
Local Contact: Dr Mona Sarter

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2600008

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2600008

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Charles Cockell et al; (2026): Unravelling the mechanisms of long-term desiccation resistance in microorganisms, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2600008

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.