Observing the change in Escherichia coli with raw meat in microgravity.

Proposal summary:

The primary focus of this experiment is to observe Escherichia coli’s behaviour, DNA mutations, rate of cell division and how it thrives within food in a microgravity environment. The behaviour that may be different from the earth is the way it handles reproduction and feeding off raw meat. I hypothesize that the e.Coli will be affected in terms of mass and cell count. I predict that the mass will be bigger and the cell count decreased. The reason the mass of E. coli will be of a larger mass is that there will be a lack of gravitational pressure on the e.Coli. As for the cell count, it will decrease because of a higher presence of radiation. To measure the samples, we will see the amount of carbon dioxide produced, the size and weight of the beef, and seeing differences in DNA.

E coli clump on ground beef.

Original Document

 

A similar study by NASA