Ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates modulate survival in response to Mars-like stress conditions

Scientific advances have emboldened human efforts toward exploring the potential of extinct, extant, or future life on Mars. An important aspect of this endeavor is understanding how an organism adapts to stress-inducing environmental conditions on Mars, such as radiation, shock waves, extreme temperatures, and chaotropic stress due to higher levels of perchlorates. A conserved approach used by organisms across evolutionary scales to adapt and overcome stress conditions is the assembly of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) condensates. In this study, we employ a multidisciplinary approach to understand yeast survivability and adaptation under Mars-like stress conditions, specifically shock waves and perchlorate, by focusing on RNP condensates. Our study reveals that yeast survives 5.6 M intensity shock waves. Exposure to either shock waves or sodium perchlorate induces the formation of P-bodies, a conserved stress-induced condensate. Yeast mutants defective in P-body assembly show defective growth in response to perchlorate stress. Transcriptome analysis, followed by validation, identified several relevant transcripts whose levels are perturbed in response to Mars-like conditions. Finally, identification of several transcripts whose abundance is altered in the P-body assembly mutant upon stress highlights a new connection between response to Martian stress conditions and RNP condensates. This study, a first of its kind, highlights the importance of RNP condensates in understanding the impact of Martian conditions on life in general. This study paves the way for using RNP condensates as a biomarker for assessing the health of life forms during space explorations.