''Cryomyces minteri'' is a

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

of uncertain placement in the class

Dothideomycetes Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1,300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Wijayawardene et al. in 2020 added more orders to the class. Traditionally, most of it ...

, division

Ascomycota Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The def ...

. The rock-inhabiting fungus that was discovered in the

McMurdo Dry Valleys The McMurdo Dry Valleys are a row of largely Antarctic oasis, snow-free valleys in Antarctica, located within Victoria Land west of McMurdo Sound. The Dry Valleys experience extremely low humidity and surrounding mountains prevent the flow of ...

located in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, on fragments of rock colonized by a local cryptoendolithic community. In 2008, ''Cryomyces minteri'' and '' Cryomyces antarcticus'' were simultaneously tested in

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

conditions on the EXPOSE-E facility on the

EuTEF The European Technology Exposure Facility (EuTEF) was a payload mounted on the exterior of the European ''Columbus'' laboratory, one of the modules of the International Space Station. The facility, mounted onto the exterior of ''Columbus'', provid ...

(European Technology Exposure Facility) platform outside the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

for 18 months. It was also tested in a space vacuum along with polychromatic UV radiation to simulate a Martian environment. The two fungi survived both of the simulations.

References

External links

Catalogue of Life: ''Dothideomycetes''
Enigmatic Dothideomycetes taxa Fungi described in 2005 Fungi of Antarctica Fungus species {{astrobiology-stub